Six Years After the Songpa Three Mothers Incident... Welfare Blind Spots Remain

Despite Legal Revisions After Incident, They Were Useless for Bangbae-dong Mother and Child
Civic Group: "Without Support Obligor Criteria, Social Security Would Have Been Provided"

▲Eliminating welfare blind spots is the beginning of welfare policy.
[Photo by Ministry of Health and Welfare]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] In a redevelopment complex scheduled in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, a woman named Kim (60), who had a son with developmental disabilities, died in poverty and was left unattended for over half a year. Although the government revised related laws after the 2014 Songpa three-mother incident by setting 33 criteria such as overdue utility bills and power or water cutoffs to identify 'at-risk households,' these measures were still ineffective for those left in welfare blind spots.

The government is considering revising regulations to include basic livelihood security recipients in the vulnerable household detection system. A senior official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated on the 16th, "Basic livelihood security recipients were not notified to local governments because it was assumed they were already in the welfare benefit management network of local governments," adding, "We are reviewing a plan to notify local governments through the social security information system even for recipients who show signs of risk."

The son in the Bangbae-dong mother and son case, Choi (36), stayed by his deceased mother’s side but left the house and became homeless after electricity and gas were cut off. He was found by a social worker who was then able to report the mother’s death. The mother and son had failed to pay health insurance premiums for as many as 100 months, and electricity and gas bills had been overdue since this spring. In such cases, the National Health Insurance Service should register the household in the social security information system, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare should classify them as a vulnerable household and notify the local government.

However, if they receive basic livelihood security benefits, they are excluded from this notification. About 4.5 million people delay paying health insurance premiums monthly, but only about 200,000 non-recipients are notified to local governments. A Ministry of Health and Welfare official said, "If the number of notifications increases, the workload for local governments will increase, so we will carefully review statistics on recipients showing signs of risk."

Some argue that the tragedy of this mother and son could not be prevented due to the support obligation criteria (if there is a family member with a certain level of income or assets, welfare benefits are excluded). Medical and livelihood benefits are determined based on the presence of a support obligor. Under current law, except for education and housing benefits, other basic security benefits require income investigation with the consent of the support obligor (direct lineal relatives within the first degree and their spouses), so contact with them is inevitable to receive benefits.

However, Kim reportedly was extremely reluctant to let her difficult situation be known to her ex-husband (the son’s support obligor) and daughter (Kim’s support obligor). This was why she refused to apply for livelihood or medical benefits, aside from the housing benefit of about 250,000 won per month.

Kim had a history of brain hemorrhage surgery in 2005, and the preliminary autopsy opinion from the National Forensic Service was 'death due to underlying disease.' She was unable to visit a hospital despite having an illness because she did not receive medical benefits. Also, her son Choi was not registered as a disabled person and thus did not receive proper treatment. The detailed examination fee (400,000 to 600,000 won) and six months of treatment costs (over 2 million won) required for disability registration were too large an amount for the basic livelihood security recipient mother and son to bear.

The civic group 'Poverty Society Solidarity' stated in a press release, "If the support obligation criteria had been completely abolished, Kim could have resolved the long-term medical benefit arrears issue or at least received livelihood benefits during the period when public jobs were cut off to guarantee minimum living expenses."

A Ministry of Health and Welfare official said, "Livelihood benefits are determined based on the support obligation criteria, but even if the support obligation criteria are abolished for medical benefits, the personal burden does not change," adding, "Because the financial burden is large, it is difficult to abolish it immediately."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.