[The Editors' Verdict] Urgent Need for Measures to Address "Reclusive Loners"

Korea is a safe country. It is a "good country to travel to, a country where it is okay to walk outside at night, a country where nothing happens even if you leave your phone on the table at a cafe and go to the restroom. The only exception is bicycles that are securely locked with a lock."

Korea is a dangerous country. It is a country where more than a hundred people are crushed to death in a commercial district in the heart of the city in one night, where despite concerns about flood damage due to heavy rain, timely control and rescue are not carried out, resulting in the deaths of a dozen people, and where incidents threatening lives with weapons by strangers happen frequently in broad daylight.

Is Korea a safe country or a dangerous country? Recently, incidents, accidents, and disasters have occurred frequently. Especially when looking at heinous crimes targeting unspecified masses, the reputation of Korea as a safe country that was once comparable to any country in the world has faded.

Among sociological analyses on why such incidents keep happening, a word that has recently appeared often is "eundunhyeong oeltori" (reclusive loner).

Jeong Yujeong, who murdered a peer woman she first met through a tutoring app in May and disposed of the body, lived in isolation for years unemployed without contact with family or relatives. Jo Seon, who caused four casualties in a stabbing rampage in Sillim-dong in July, was unemployed and an alcohol-dependent person. Choi Wonjong, who carried out a random stabbing rampage at Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province in early August, causing 14 casualties, was a social recluse who dropped out of school due to social phobia. Choi Yoonjong, the murderer in the Sillim-dong park on August 17, was also revealed to be a recluse.

According to the "Status and Support Measures for Isolated and Reclusive Youth" report published by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs in May 2023, in 2019, 3.1%, or 334,000, of the youth population aged 19 to 34 were isolated youth. However, in 2021, due to the impact of COVID-19 and employment difficulties, this number rapidly increased to 5%, or 538,000.

It is wrong to label all of them as potential criminals. However, it is also a reality that urgent countermeasures for them are needed. Economic inequality and alienation are intensifying, competition is fierce, and our society is dominated by survival-of-the-fittest selfishness rather than consideration and harmony. The state must extend support and social welfare to prevent those outside the social safety net from falling into extreme anger and destruction. A step-by-step support system should be established to help their social adaptation, including continuous operation of online counseling windows for reclusive loners and support for career exploration.

It is also urgent to fix the perforated public safety system. On the 21st, the National Police Agency announced that during the 15 days from the 4th to the 18th, they patrolled 47,260 densely populated places, detected 227 weapon-related crimes, and emergency hospitalized 640 mentally ill patients in psychiatric hospitals. However, they failed to prevent the Sillim-dong incident that occurred during this period, drawing criticism for focusing only on "showy policing activities."

The persistent discord among government ministries is also a problem. On the 23rd, Police Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun announced a government-wide countermeasure against "random crimes" and said they would consult with the Ministry of National Defense and others to recruit 7,500 to 8,000 conscripted police officers, despite claiming there was "no security gap." However, the next day, when Prime Minister Han Deok-su changed the position to review reintroducing conscripted police officers if necessary after reallocating police personnel to the field, Commissioner Yoon's remarks were nullified, causing a fiasco. The efficient use of existing police forces should be reconsidered first.

The path for Korea to become a safe country again must start with the government working properly.

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