“Money is tight for senior citizens,” Tapgol hanging on amidst soaring prices

A sign displaying the menu and price in front of a gukbap (hot soup with rice) restaurant near Tapgol Park in Jongno-gu, Seoul on November 13. Jeong Hyo-jin

Hwang Yeong-gi (67) visited the Silver Cinema in the Nagwon Mall in Jongno-gu, Seoul on November 14 and pulled out two one-thousand-won bills from his wallet. After purchasing a ticket for the 1962 film, Escape from Zahrain, he said, “I come here six times a week,” adding, “I can watch more than six films here with the money to buy one ticket at Daehan Cinema. This is one of my life’s pleasures.”

For two days from November 13, the Kyunghyang Shinmun visited the stores near Tapgol Park and spoke with thirty senior citizens. The elderly citizens came from all corners of the Seoul metropolitan area including Guro-gu, Seoul; Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi; and Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, and they said they lived on less than 10,000 won a day.

Signs that read “3,000 won gukbap (hot soup with rice)” and “6,000 won to dye hair” caught our eyes in the stores lining the streets here. Storeowners said they couldn’t raise their prices easily despite the soaring prices of labor, materials, and utilities (power, gas, and water). They said, “We can’t ask the elderly who are financially in a tight situation for more money.”

The Silver Cinema, a movie theater for senior citizens, that lies 200 meters away from Tapgol Park, has not once raised the price of its tickets since it first opened in 2009. Kim Eun-ju (49), the president of the Silver Cinema said, “We are working to make people feel that aging in the Republic of Korea is meaningful. We will continue to keep the price at 2,000 won.”

But in an age of high prices, the movie theater is facing greater challenges. This year, the theater was charged a monthly average of six million won for utility bills, up nearly two million won from last year. Before covid, the cinema had about 1,500 viewers a day, and they even handed out waiting tickets up to number 200, but recently, the number of customers has dropped to about 500. Kim continues to run the cinema by selling her personal property and borrowing money from acquaintances. There is no government funding, but occasionally, companies and individuals help pay the operating expenses of the cinema.

The restaurants around Tapgol Park help fill the stomachs of the senior citizens. On Lucky Street, several small gukbap places with 6-8 tables each were scattered along the street. Four of the restaurants sold a bowl of hot soup with rice (gukbap) for 3,000-4,000 won.

“I come here once or twice a week,” said a man we met in a gukbap restaurant on November 13, adding, “It’s cheap, and it tastes great.” The price of a bowl of siraegiguk (soup with dried radish leaves) at this restaurant was 3,000 won.

A, the owner of the restaurant who has been in business in this area for over three decades, said, “When we opened, the price was 2,000 won, but last year we raised it to 2,500 won and this year to 3,000 won.”

“You can’t do business when you think of the rent,” said A, adding, “If we raise the price any further, the customers won’t be able to come.” The monthly rent, which used to be 800,000 won, rose to two million won four years ago.

The stylish senior citizens head over to the barber shops near Tapgol Park. The two hair salon franchises near Jongno-3ga Station each charge 10,000 won and 20,000 won for a haircut, while the barber shops near Tapgol Park only charge 5,000-6,000 won.

“We are in a tight situation, too, but we can’t raise our prices,” said Oh Yong-geun (66), a barber at Park Barbershop where they charge only 6,000 won each to cut and dye your hair. He further said, “Recently, we’ve been losing customers. The fact that people are not even cutting their hair means times are really tough.”