hankyoreh

By Lee You-jin, staff reporter and Choi Sang-won, South Gyeongsang correspondent
Ms. Lee, a 78-year-old grandmother, was found in the flower garden at the entrance of Geoje City Hall on the morning of August 8 after she committed suicide. It has been revealed that she was driven to take her own life after losing her National Basic Livelihood assistance, from which she was disqualified because of 7,000 won (US$6.20).
It appears she went to City Hall after being notified that as of Aug. 8 she would no longer qualify for National Basic Livelihood assistance.
In her suicide note, she expressed resentment at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s standards, saying “How could this be when it is people who make the laws?”
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Geoje City Hall in South Gyeongsang province, Lee was stripped of her National Basic Living Security assistance qualification because a confirmation study of recipients conducted in June revealed that her son-in-law’s income had increased.
This is to say, the “sustenance allowance” in accordance with support obligation standards (lineal blood relatives or spouse) had been exceeded. The recently increased income of her daughter and son-in-law, who work for a subcontractor of a major corporation, was about 8 million won a month.
The “mandatory sustenance allowance” is computed by taking the income of the lineal blood relative or spouse, removing a total equal to 130% of the minimum cost of living for a family obligated to support a relative, and multiplying that by 15% in the case of a daughter (30% in the case of a son).
In Lee’s case, the final “sustenance allowance” her daughter and son-in-law were obliged to provide was calculated as 560,000 won.
To receive National Basic Living Security assistance, your income must be lower than the minimum cost of living. As Lee’s minimum cost of living was 553,354 won, she lost her qualification for National Basic Living Security assistance over less than 7,000 won.
She received a Basic Senior Pension, but because her “sustenance allowance” had already exceeded the limit, it didn’t mean much in determining her qualification.
Lee went to City Hall in July and August to ask that her situation be reconsidered, but she was stripped of her qualification since she did not submit a separate written statement claiming unavoidable circumstances.
Lee had received National Basic Living Security assistance for 10 years, and she lived alone, far from her daughter and husband, who were in debt.
During her lifetime, Lee received from the state a grand total of about 390,000 won, including a monthly stipend of 240,000 won, a residential subsidy of 58,000 won, and a pension of 94,600 won.
When beneficiaries lose their qualification, they also lose their housing assistance, stipend and medical benefits. The standards determining family members who must provide support is tied to a contrived system that dumps the state’s responsibility onto the family.
Last year, two elderly citizens took their own lives after they were stripped of their National Basic Living Security assistance qualifications following a recipient confirmation survey. The Ministry of Health and Welfare carries out these surveys twice a year.
Park Gyeong-seok, head of the a civic group calling for the “mandatory support system” to be abolished, said, “Many citizens now agree that welfare responsibility should be shouldered by the state, not the families... We must abolish the old mandatory support standards, which have driven several people to their deaths, and we mustn’t treat people hurt by these anachronistic standards like criminals.”
　　
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]