Old Kim's Death
English Title_4K_Stereo Sound
The summer and winter of 2019. I was deeply saddened to hear the news about the North Korean defector mother and daughter who committed suicide together due to financial hardship, as well as the mother and four daughters from Seongbuk-gu. I felt a sense of regret and questioning as to why the mother and daughter had to choose death when there must have been numerous settlement funds and support programs available for defectors, and why the four daughters from Seongbuk-gu did not utilize South Korea's social security system. Suicide due to financial hardship is likely a choice made to let go of life when one feels that living is so painful that it is better to die. Although South Korea has become one of the world's top ten economic powers, the quality of life does not seem to have improved compared to the past. We have moved from an era where families and neighbors lived together despite hunger to an era where people cut off communication with their neighbors, shutting down between work and home solely for the sake of making a living. In particular, those who lose in competition fall into the vulnerable class, suffering from poverty and illness while enduring difficult lives. For a human being to die from poverty is an incredibly inhumane and tragic way of life in this day and age. We must all take an interest in vulnerable groups, and a social security system must be established that allows even the vulnerable to live as human beings.
The old man roams the alleys of the villa neighborhood searching for scrap paper. Trash discarded haphazardly is scattered here and there in the alleys. Wandering through the maze-like streets, he laboriously loads the occasional scrap paper he spots onto his handcart. He sells the paper to a junk dealer and receives 5,000 won. He cooks ramen on a portable burner and eats it for lunch with soju. Drunk, he falls asleep. Waking up to the sound of his cell phone, he jumps up at the voice of a loan company employee demanding payment. He enters the community center to meet with a social welfare officer and applies for welfare benefits. The officer coldly refuses, stating that he is not eligible. Returning home, the old man sheds tears as he reflects on his life. The next day. #Social Welfare Officer's Home. On the living room TV reflected in the large bathroom mirror, news of a suicide by an elderly person in their 60s plays through the voice of an announcer.
