Homeless memorial commemorates 435 deaths in Seoul over last year
A total of 435 roses are laid out on the front steps of Seoul Station, Wednesday, in memorial to 435 homeless lives lost in Seoul this year. Courtesy of Anastasia Traynin
At least 435 homeless people have died in Seoul over the past year, according to a local advocacy group.
Amid the usual bustle outside Seoul Station Square on Dec. 15, members of the Homeless Memorial Ceremony Joint Planning Committee began laying out two long red cloths along the central staircase, on top of which they placed 435 plastic roses, each representing a homeless person reported dead in Seoul over the past year.
Attached to each rose was the name and a brief profile of the deceased, all but eight of whom were registered as “muyeongo samang,” or unclaimed deaths, meaning there were either no surviving relatives or no one to claim their remains.
Called a “stairway of memory,” the display marked the start of the annual Homeless Memorial Week in Seoul, which will culminate in an outdoor interactive art exhibit at the same location at 2 p.m. on Monday, followed by a ceremony and march at 7 p.m.
Cards contain information about homeless people who have died over the past year in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Anastasia Traynin
The staircase of memory is set up every weekday at 4 p.m. through the day of the ceremony, and participants and passersby are encouraged to take part in an in-person and online activity of matching plastic cups and electric candles with the deceased names among the roses and leaving messages. Outside Seoul, memorial ceremonies will be held in Daegu on Friday and Daejeon on Monday.
These memorials have taken place every year since 2001, joining international Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day events around the Dec. 21 winter solstice, the longest and often coldest night of the year. In Korea, the events incorporate the annual tradition of sharing “dongjijuk,” a red bean porridge that is said to ward off evil spirits and usher in good fortune in the new year.
The Dec. 15 display coincided with a press conference by representatives from some of the more than 50 civic groups comprising this year’s memorial committee. Under the slogan “Rights Not Management, Coexistence Not Exclusion!” they referred to the deceased homeless as “social deaths” lacking official recognition, funerals and memorial services.
The role of providing these services has been undertaken by private and nonprofit groups. The memorial committee cites the homeless mortality rate as four times the national average, coming to a total of 6,000 unclaimed deaths nationwide last year, which is likely an underreported count.
Homeless rights advocates have intentionally borrowed the English word “homeless” to encompass not only people living on the streets, but also in slum-like “jjokbang” communities, gosiwon (a low-cost dormitory-style accommodation), homeless shelters, care facilities and various other unstable housing conditions.
Advocates participate in a memorial for homeless lives lost in Seoul over the past year, in front of Seoul Station, Dec. 15. Courtesy of Homeless Memorial Ceremony Joint Planning Committee
The civic group Homeless Action operates on a membership basis with no government support. Since 2010, it has run a volunteer-based night school open to current and former housing-insecure adults. Classes range from basic skills such as homeless rights, reading, writing and technology use, to electives including English, choir, art and media. They also have a weekly street homeless outreach program.
Homeless Action activist Ju Jang-uk explained the importance of not only helping but also organizing the homeless to advocate for their rights.
“The homeless community knows their situation better than others, so they can be the ones to make demands,” Ju told The Korea Times. “One way to organize is through the Homeless Night School, to make people stay, communicate and work alongside us. Another way is monitoring human rights violations on the street and in low-cost housing like jjokbang and gosiwon. If we find a problem, we work together with that person on a solution to improve their situation. This is how we’ve met our friends in the community.”
A student union co-leader at the Homeless Night School, who goes by the nickname Rimbo, said that one of the causes of death among the poor and street homeless is the inability to find shelter in cold weather, as many have gradually been driven out of the square in front of Seoul Station and the underground passageway nearby.
“Many citizens and passersby look down on them, just calling them bums,” Rimbo said. “The mayor of Seoul has recently been emphasizing the need to get rid of the homeless here. It’s really unfortunate because we’re all the same people. I wish people would respect the rights of the homeless as much as anyone else. We can live in better housing and work.”
Ju was shocked to hear the Seoul Metropolitan Government directly refer to foreign tourists complaining about being bothered and harmed by homeless people around Seoul Station.
“The city is trying to make the square alcohol-free, which is not a public health strategy, but a way of kicking out homeless people with alcohol abuse and mental health problems,” he said.
Rimbo emphasized the need for more subsidized rental housing, citing the nearby Dongja-dong jjokbang community as an example of small substandard units leading to more homeless deaths and often driving people back into the streets.
Among the names on the profile cards attached to the roses on the stairway of memory, non-Korean names reflect the presence of international residents in Seoul’s homeless population. Ju said that he meets an increasing number of people from other countries in the streets.
“Foreign people come to work in Korea, but some end up in bad conditions, so if they lose their job and money, they lose their housing,” he said.
While there are also youth and teenagers experiencing homelessness, the law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from being officially designated as homeless. Instead, this demographic is served by separate youth shelters, group homes and other housing that are designed to be temporary, to allow for minors to return to their families of origin. In reality, many live in this system until reaching adulthood.
Ju described Homeless Action’s position as one that believes specific housing conditions are not the only way to describe homelessness.
“We focus on how unstable or insecure a person’s housing is, or if somebody doesn’t have enough money or a bad relationship with their family,” he said. “We believe that the identity of age and gender is different from a state of being ‘homeless.’ However, society labels ‘homeless’ as an identity in itself.”
A poster for the Homeless Memorial / Courtesy of Homeless Memorial Ceremony Joint Planning Committee
Homeless Action is collecting donations for its annual winter drive, including a Social Funch online fundraiser running through the end of the month and an ongoing collection of men’s warm clothes, sleeping items and light reading material. Donations can be made directly or by mail to the Homeless Action office, located just east of the Cheongpa-dong three-way intersection.
“While we do need clothes and material things, what we really need is people’s interest,” Ju said. “All public spaces are being commercialized. This is not only a homeless problem, but a problem for everyone who is not rich enough to live in big apartments. Any one of us could get kicked out of public spaces one day. We hope people will come out and work together with us.”
For inquiries, contact 02-2634-4331 or 010-8495-0283. Visit homelessaction.or.kr for more information.
Anastasia Traynin is a writer, editor, translator and teacher based in Seoul.