hankyoreh

A resident at a flophouse in the Dongja neighborhood of Seoul’s Yongsan District attempts to break up the ice covering the stairs in his building with a hammer on Jan. 26. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

With Korean households facing increasingly burdensome heating costs amid this year’s hike in gas utility fees, the ruthless cold that has gripped the country in recent days is making this year’s winter especially painful for society’s most vulnerable.

At one flophouse the Hankyoreh visited in Seoul’s Dongja neighborhood on Thursday, lodgers cautiously inched their way up and down stairs that had become enveloped in a thick layer of ice. One lodger set to work trying to break the ice with a hammer, only to abandon the task for fear of slipping.

At midday, gas meters lining the alleyways in the neighborhood were still covered in a layer of snow that had fallen that morning, a testament to the persistence of the bitter cold temperatures.

A resident at a flophouse in the Dongja neighborhood of Seoul’s Yongsan District attempts to break up the ice covering the stairs in his building with a hammer on Jan. 26. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

The presidential office announced Thursday that it would be doubling the amount covered by energy vouchers for 1,176,000 underprivileged households, from 152,000 won (US$123) to 304,000 won, for this winter.

At the same time, Minister of Economy Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho indicated at a press conference on Thursday that gas rates may be hiked in the second quarter of the year (April-June) after being temporarily frozen for the first quarter (January-March).

We’ve gathered photos of the difficult winter days in Dongja.

A layer of snow sits atop gas meters in an alleyway in Seoul’s Dongja neighborhood on Jan. 26. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

Even at midday on Jan. 26, ice remains frozen solid at a flophouse in the Dongja neighborhood of Seoul’s Yongsan District. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

A resident of a flophouse in the Dongja neighborhood of Seoul’s Yongsan District carefully makes their way down the ice-covered stairway. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

By Kang Chang-kwang, senior staff writer

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]