A Self-Portrait of the Republic of Korea Seen at Seoul Station

[Seoul Sinmun · Open World · July 5, 2015]

Yun Suk-myung, Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) and Adjunct Professor of Economics at Korea University

The Seoul Station building, construction of which began in June 1922 and was completed in September 1925 during the Japanese colonial period, was established by Japan as a foothold for the invasion of Joseon and the continent, and is said to have been called by the nickname "Little Tokyo Station." Upon completion, the name of the station, which had been called Namdaemun Station, was changed to Gyeongseong Station, and it is said to have become a topic of great interest throughout the city due to the scale of the building and its unique appearance at the time (Naver Encyclopedia). Seoul Station began with the opening of the Gyeongin Line, the starting point of our country's railroad history. Starting with the Gyeongbu Line in 1905, it emerged as a center of railroad transportation as the Gyeongui and Gyeongwon lines opened. The old Seoul Station building, which was a living witness to our country's modern history and industrialization process—including the destruction of part of the station during the Korean War—was closed in January 2004 when a new privately funded station was constructed.

As subway line extensions and expansions were carried out centered around Seoul Station, Seoul Station is now also a living witness to our country's industrialization. This is because after the opening of Subway Line 1 on August 15, 1974, connecting Seoul Station and Cheongnyangni Station, lines were expanded into the capital region, making it possible to travel by subway to Incheon, Gyeonggi, and Chungcheong regions via Seoul Station. The fact that the opening date of Line 1, the first subway, was August 15 also seems to have significant historical meaning. This Seoul Station now serves as the terminus for the Airport Railroad connecting to Incheon International Airport and Gimpo Airport, acting as a gateway where foreigners feel Korea the moment they set foot in the country.

From a social policy perspective, it seems that the foreign exchange crisis was the catalyst for Seoul Station to re-emerge as an object of public interest. This is because Seoul Station became the base for homeless people, a new social phenomenon that emerged for us after the 1997 foreign exchange crisis. The hardships of the past, once epitomized by the beggars' song Gakseori Taryeong, returned in the form of families collapsing under mass unemployment after the foreign exchange crisis and the resulting surge in homelessness; thus, homelessness around the station has now become a sight that is not so unfamiliar to us. It feels like a historical irony that Seoul Station, which was also the starting point of industrialization to achieve the goal of "let us live well," has suddenly become a place where the marginalized groups existing in our society are accepted as a matter of course.

Subway Line 1, whose facilities are the most worn because it is the oldest line and which is rated the dirtiest because its long route through many areas carries such a wide variety of passengers, is also the line most used by older people. This is because many older people use free soup kitchens in Jongno 3-ga and other locations. As they age and physical functions weaken, older people cannot help but be more vulnerable to various diseases than young people. It seems time to note the fact that many older people, who are most vulnerable to disease, use the subway where the public health environment is poor. We are experiencing painfully through the recent MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) crisis that we must pay a significant cost if we fail to respond properly and preemptively. Using the MERS crisis as an opportunity to turn misfortune into a blessing, it seems time to examine the overall management system of our society from a public health perspective.

Above all, a thorough inspection of the sanitary conditions of subway stations and related facilities seems necessary. Since it is a means of public transportation used by an enormous number of people, the speed of transmission can also be very fast. In a situation where the government's fiscal capacity is decreasing as we face a low fertility and aging society, a social consensus on spending priorities is needed for effective fiscal expenditure to occur. We must ensure that policies are not pushed down the priority list simply because resources are lacking or because they are primarily used by powerless common people.

Our intelligent citizens understand quickly if things are explained properly. They will easily empathize with the point that investing in facility management directly linked to public health, such as managing air pollution levels inside the subway, and keeping our surrounding environment clean can be a support system that protects not only their own health but also that of their families. If a clean state is maintained, I believe people will easily empathize with what economics calls a positive externality (an effect that is not explicitly included in the price but has significant value if converted into a price). A consensus can be formed more easily as we are experiencing the MERS crisis, which caused the entire nation to tremble in fear and resulted in substantial economic losses.

Source: Seoul Sinmun (original article)