Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jcheng461]

Anybody else curious about the amputee beggars in Seoul?
They lay prone on a wooden "skateboard".. if you will.
The beggars are always missing their legs.
They always have rubber "pants" with the ends closed.

Who helps them set up and get around on their begging rounds? How would they go to the bathroom? Or eat? They always have the same setup..
I wonder if they're victims of some kind of misdeed with the mafia. Anybody have thoughts?

[Ruthdes]

I read an article about these guys a couple of months back. It was in an English language magazine...maybe 10 magazine? Apparently they're called Seal Men. The guy they interviewed lived somewhere in Gyeongi province, I think, and got a lift into Seoul each day with someone who lived near him. I can't remember much more than that, but it was a pretty interesting article.

[Robot_Teacher]

I too seen them in my local 5 day market and in the Namdaemoon market in Seoul. Someone told me most of them are war veterans. Often, they push a music player with a single speaker guitar amp looking thing hooked up to a car battery with a plastic money bowl attached on a wood plank with wheels. They have tractor inner tube or tire strapped on their legs to protect them as they drag on the ground. Since most Korean people are phobic of touching the ground and outdoor shoes, the beggars dramatize this by scooting on the ground rather than sitting.

I guess, becuase Korea has low taxes, there is no social system and if you need a lift, your relatives help you such as parents passing their old place down to you, but some people fall through the cracks or this style of begging is a profession a very few make their living doing. The beggars are probably not homeless as they must charge their battery someplace, but are poor and unemployable. I'm not sure if homeless shelters are common in Korea, but I know of low income government owned housing in my town for those who don't own a place. Most in my town are old and low income, but obviously own the little old places they live in. I've only seen like 2 who beg.

I believe this is the Korean way of begging and these people have varying disabilities and regardless of disability, this is what they for a living. Even if a particular one can walk, but is missing an arm as his disability, he still would scoot on the ground with rubber on his legs pushing a music player playing the same sort of sad music.