Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Rural residents to be hit hard by closure of post offices
By Bahk Eun-ji
Life will become much harder for residents in rural areas after Korea Post closes nearly seven hundred unprofitable post offices, mostly in farming and fishing villages, over the next four years to improve its worsening bottom line, according to the postal workers' union Wednesday.
Currently, many people living in rural areas rely on postal offices not only for mail services, but also for financial and insurance services. When the offices in their towns close, it will be difficult for them, particularly senior citizens, to access remittances and other everyday financial services
An elderly woman with an umbrella enters a post office in Incheon, west of Seoul, in this Feb. 25 file photo. /Korea Times file
By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea Post operates three types of branches ― general post offices, special post offices, and postal handling offices. They all handle postal services under the Postal Law, but only special post offices, 726 offices in total, are allowed to offer financial and insurance services
In the 1960s, the government introduced general post offices to all regions of the country as the nation lacked the financial infrastructure at the time. Many of these special post offices remain in these rural areas.
Under its restructuring plan, announced in January, 677 offices among 1,352 will be closed by 2023.
Bang Jong-yoon, postmaster of Jang-am Post Office in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, said the staff of his office have already been suffering from a workforce shortage.
“Many special post offices in rural areas are already operated by only two people. However, there must be at least three employees to cover financial tasks, mailing services and delivery services,” Bang said.
According to the Central Association of Special Post Offices (CASPO), the Korea Post headquarters recently ordered the special post offices in rural areas to reduce the number of employees by 253.
The association is also strongly opposed to the restructuring plan, citing the reduction of their manpower in the special post offices will lead to a situation where rural residents cannot access public services.
“In particular, when the post offices of the farming and fishing villages are closed, the benefit of financial services for the working class as well as elderly people will be pushed into a blind spot. The special post offices should play a role as public institutions, instead of purely making profits,” said Bae Il-jin, president of CASPO.
Korea Post, which is controlled by the Ministry of Science and ICT, has been struggling with heavy losses.
The agency has seen losses in its mail business since 2011, including a 145 billion won ($125.5 million) loss last year. It said it expects a loss of over 200 billion won this year.