By Kim Tae-jong
Korail, the national railroad operator, said Wednesday it will forcibly move homeless people out of Seoul Station from August.
In response, many express concerns saying it could threaten their lives and cause other adverse side-effects.
The measures are the result of continuous complaints from citizens using the station saying that there are too many homeless people causing inconvenience to travelers, Korail officials said.
“About 300,000 people use the station a day and they experience inconvenience because of the homeless there. Sometimes, some of the homeless harass innocent citizens for no reason,” Lim seok-gyu, official from Korail, said. “It is a move to make the station a more pleasant and safer place for citizens, which is the most important thing that we should do.”
Humanitarian groups estimate about 300 homeless people loiter at the station to get a daily free meal and about half of them sleep inside or around the station in inclement weather.
Korail has requested the Seoul Metropolitan Government to find a new place for the homeless living near the nation’s largest station. A Korail official said that details on how to move them have not been decided yet.
Korail has already banned the homeless from sleeping inside the station and asked them to move out of waiting lounges.
To ease the transition Seoul city plans to strengthen its program for the homeless including counseling, job arrangement and temporary accommodation.
“Since Korail decided to aggressively move the homeless out of the station, we’ll try to do what we can do for the homeless,” a city official said. “Mainly, we will try to send them to a nearby shelter and arrange practical work.”
But civic groups helping the homeless point out that these shelters cannot accommodate all the homeless who currently hang around the station.
“There are only three shelters around the station, and it’s impossible for them to take care of all the affected homeless,” said Lee Jong-man, an official from Dasiseogi Center, a civic group helping the homeless. “Most of the homeless also leave the shelter soon as they fail to adjust to the new environment, and don’t want to live under any regulations.”
Many other people are also skeptical about the plan, saying it is just a temporary solution simply to get them out of view.
“Putting them all into shelters is not the solution. They will be just out of sight,” said Rev. Huh Wun-ho at Daum Church, who has helped the homeless there. “Many of them are alcoholics or have mental problems. If you want to move them from where they live now, you need to come up with more proper measures.”