Disability in South Korea

Profile of Kyung Seok Park a daredevil and activist campaigning for 40 years:

“Since I’ve been protesting, I’ve noticed that the reaction of the police depends on our country’s leader. Now a conservative government is in power, the attitude has shifted. Authorities have stolen our placards, stopped us from riding the subway and thrown us off the trains. They mock us, damage our wheelchairs and I’ve been strangled to the point where I couldn’t breathe.” (2024, Amnesty)

Disability rights group files suit against Seoul Metro over subway protest ban. (2024)

Seoul Metro to ban all subway protests by disability advocacy group “Seoul Metro claimed that delays totaling over 86 hours have been caused by the subway protests on 471 occasions since 2021, resulting in some 780 million won (US $600,936) in losses.” (2023, Yonhap)

Disabled activist files complaint with human rights watchdog over arrest during subway protest: “I held on to my wheelchair not to be arrested, but I could not move because the police took my arms and twisted them”. (2023, Korea JoongAng Daily)

Leader of disability rights protests referred to prosecution on illegal demonstration charges: “Park Kyoung-seok, the 63-year-old co-leader of the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, was referred to the prosecution by police on Thursday on charges of illegally occupying roads and obstructing subway services during 38 protest rallies across Seoul during the two year period until January.” (2023, The Korea Herald)

Disabled activists stage surprise subway protest in downtown Seoul on nat'l disability day. (2023, Yonhap News Agency)

Disability rights activists are referred to prosecution over protests in the subway during rush-hour. (2023, Korea Times) Comment on this “zero tolerance” approach, which includes Seoul Metro suing the protestors. Protests paused during further dialogue.

Seoul’s callous response to disability rights protests. “While trying to stop the disabled activists from boarding the subway, Seoul Metro workers and the police forcibly pulled activists away by their wheelchairs.” (2023, Hankyoreh)

Resolution remains elusive for Seoul's disabled accessibility issues (2023, Korea Times)

Disabled advocacy group to resume rush-hour subway protests. “SADD has been leading subway protests since late last year and often caused delays in metro services during rush hour as some of its members used their wheelchairs to prevent trains from departing.” (2022, Yonhap News) See a detailed feature on the protests and how the movement goes back to 2001.

Back to contents.

Assessing heatwave effects on disabled persons. “Our findings emphasize the substantial influence of disability as a key factor in exacerbating heatwave risks” (2024, Scientific Reports)

Back to contents.

Overview

Big Ocean breaks barriers as the first K-pop group whose members are hard of hearing. (2024, The World by PRX)

Sign Language in K-Pop (2024, Laura Wissiak)

In a K-Pop First, Deaf Members Debut as 'Big Ocean' | Be Korea-savvy “They will perform songs in Korean sign language, English sign language and international sign”. (2024, the Korea Bizwire)

Back to contents.

TV and Film

Extraordinary Attorney Woo’s episodes have good and bad autistic representation. “In highlighting the realities of discrimination through the microcosmic lens of Hanbada, Extraordinary Attorney Woo excels. [But, as well as reinforcing some misconceptions about autism, the] ultimately supportive nature of Young-woo’s colleagues has led some to criticize the show for being too fantastical.” (2022, Polygon)

Back to contents.

Around 50% of people with disabilities aged 65 or above “According to the Health Ministry’s report [...] up to 2.65 million of the total population were registered as having some sort of disability.” (2024, The Korea Herald)

Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy of Korean registered disabled 2014–2018, Korea National Rehabilitation Center database. Study confirms disabled people have a shorter life expectancy than those without. (2023, BMC Public Health)

Back to contents.

”They cancelled my job interviews because I'm disabled” a linkedin post that went viral. (2022, BBC)

Back to contents.

Effects of disability-related limitations in daily living on unmet needs: a longitudinal-study. “Limitations in daily life due to disability increase the risk of having unmet [health] needs, an effect that is significantly more pronounced in men.” (2024, BMC Public Health)

Back to contents.

Overview

Towards Dignity and Autonomy a report on personal assistance policies across nine countries. (2024, ENIL and ILO)

A column reflecting on deinstitutionalization and the leading politician from the government party who said that “deinstitutionalization is a matter of choice.” (2022, Hankyoreh)

Back to contents.

Conditions in Institutions

Removing and Rehabilitating the Burangin: South Korean Newspapers' Vagrancy Discourse in Support of State Violence:

“The South Korean government used the burangin [vagrants] label to justify their massive wave of forced institutionalizations in the 1980s that resulted in countless abuses and many hundreds of deaths.” (2024, Disability Studies Quarterly)

Grave concern on recent claims in Korea that institutions for disabled people in Europe are models of good practice. (2023, ENIL)

Back to contents.

39 Barrier free destinations in our country a new book (In Korean, 2023, imedialife)

Back to contents.

Using the Capability Approach to Review the National Legislative Frameworks for Support Services for Persons with Disabilities in Four Countries in Asia: “most countries address support services, including assistive devices, only from the perspective of a social security measure for persons with disabilities living in poverty, failing to uphold the rights of those not meeting those eligibility criteria.” (2022, Societies)

Back to contents.

Representative Kim Ye-Ji Interview. Disability is my political identity. (In Korean, 2023, The Indigo)

Back to contents.