Problems are growing as government budget for the socially disadvantaged is slashed

The government\'s budget cuts have led to a shrinkage in support programs for the vulnerable, with many people who worked at support organizations losing their jobs. In this photo, children walk hand in hand at the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News

"I don't know what's going to happen to the support project for the vulnerable, and I don't know what's going to happen to my job."

In November last year, activists of the private consignment project that supports the socially disadvantaged, such as women, adolescents, migrants, and the disabled, were concerned when they heard the news of budget cuts for 2024. On January 31, a month into the New Year, their concerns became a reality and they lost their jobs. While the government claims that it is taking great care about protecting the socially disadvantaged as the project continues according to this year's budget execution plan, it is unclear whether the role that was cut, closed, and disappeared will be restored on the spot.

Kim Eun-young, who worked as a labor protection officer at the Youth Counseling and Welfare Center in North Gyeongsang Province, was notified of the expiration of her labor contract on December 28 last year. All 35 counselors nationwide, including Kim, who had been providing labor counseling and labor rights education to teenagers, lost their jobs because the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family slashed the budget for the youth labor rights protection project.

Kim still does not understand why the project was terminated. But as the government ended the project even before looking into statistics on the project performance or its meaning, we no longer have trust in the government's policies."

Kim, a mother of two children who lost her job, is under extreme stress to make ends meet. “It is difficult to raise children when my husband is the sole breadwinner, so me losing a job is a hard hit for our family,” she said. "It's embarrassing that we, who used to teach workers’ rights and safety to teenagers, are ironically looking for a labor attorney and talking about such concerns.”

Kim Mi-hyun, who was in charge of teaching Korean to migrant workers at the Migrant Workers Support Center in Incheon for 14 years, has also started looking for a job since last month. As the Ministry of Employment and Labor cut the budget for Migrant Workers Support Centers, all centers across the country, including the center in Incheon where Kim worked, were closed.

The ministry is launching a new "Project to Support Local Settlement of Foreign Workers" and is looking for nine local governments to take on the project. However, employees, who worked at the centers like Kim, said they are not sure if the centers they used to work at will be able to participate as a consignment agency for the new project, making it difficult to wait for the outcome of the public offering.

Migrants who used to come to the center on Sundays to get help adjusting to life in Korea still contact Kim. "Migrant workers from Nepal and Cambodia ask me, 'My new friends have come to Korea, so where should they learn Korean?’ and 'When will the center reopen?'" Kim said. "It's very sad to hear stories like this when there are more than 160,000 new foreign workers coming to Korea this year."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.