KIM Seonga

Associate Research Fellow, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs

KIM Seonga
Times of the Remarks 2024. 11. 12. 13:55-14:40
Title Research Findings - 2 - Exploring the Possibilities for Community Demonstrated by Isolated Youth

Social “corpses.” Trash that cannot be reused or recycled. Rooms littered with such trash. Fear of dying alone and undiscovered in a square room. There are young people among us living in isolation, who see no other choice but to give up on their lives. KIM Seonga, a policy researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs who dreams of a better society where everyone can live the happy life they desire, presents possibilities for a new kind of community, where formerly isolated young people can recover together and work to become reconnected with others. These young people live together in one house, sharing everyday life together in the same time and space. Here, they practice accepting themselves as they are while also, in a clean break from the personal histories that brought them to where they are, preparing to live as self-reliant individuals. They also promise to not isolate themselves in their rooms but rather become, collectively, a close-knit safety net for one another. They emerge from the rooms they occupy alone to be together in their communal spaces, and beyond their community house into the wider world, where they can interact with other isolated youths and with civil society. Dr. Kim examines what our society must do to realize the possibilities that isolated youths demonstrate to us through community.


[Session Title and Description]

Exploring the Possibilities for Community Demonstrated by Isolated Youth

This is a story of young people who lived in isolation, feeling as if they have been forced to give up on their lives. Some said it was wishful thinking to expect they would be able to emerge from the rooms they had for so long refused to leave and live their lives fully once again. But these young people now live in one house, cooking and eating together, and finding the strength in community to break free of their isolation and live lives that are marked by both self-reliance and solidarity. The new possibilities these young people have shown us inspire new hope for not only the 540,000 young people in Korea currently living in isolation but also for Korean society as a whole, suffering as it is today under the strain of hyperindividualism and disconnection. It is time for us to learn what we must do as a society to realize and expand on the possibilities demonstrated to us by this community of isolated youths.