{"id":3015,"date":"2017-02-13T14:32:15","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T05:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2017\/02\/report\/20161107-old-people-05\/"},"modified":"2021-07-08T15:35:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T06:35:43","slug":"20161107-old-people-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2017\/02\/photo\/20161107-old-people-05\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cPhoto Report\uff1e Abandoned Elderly (PART5) The elderly Treated Useless in N.Korea, the Land of Courtesy toward the Elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>

A grandmother and her grandson, after being kicked out by her son-in-law because he couldn\u2019t afford to feed them anymore, lived in an old air raid shelter in a suburb of Pyongyang. She told an ASIAPRESS reporting partner in North Korea, \u201cThe authority would have me detained if I get caught in a city.\u201d June 2011, in a suburb of Pyongyang. Taken by Koo Gwang-ho (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

2016\/Nov<\/span><\/span>\/07<\/em><\/p>\n

Koreans respect the elderly, and North Koreans were not an exception.  However, during the social chaos in the late 1990s, even a number of young people died of starvation in North Korea: nowadays, the spirit of respect toward the elderly has collapsed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people regularly call me, \u2018Hey old bastard, bitch, old fart\u2019 and so on.  It\u2019s the end of the world.  The spirit of this nation has been destroyed, and the moral sense has faded away,\u201d said a number of old North Koreans who crossed the border into China.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, ethics and morality deteriorate at the country where an alarming level of poverty exists.  However, even after the severe famine ended, the \u201crespect towards old people\u201d has not been revived.
\nRelated article: Abandoned Elderly (PART4) Collapsed Social Welfare System Has Left the Elderly on the Streets.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Although the famine ended, it is inevitable for people to earn money in order to feed themselves\u2013since the food rationing and the social welfare system have been obsolete.  Seemingly, the whole society has recognized the elderly as useless. (ISHIMARU Jiro)<\/p>\n

<\/a>

An old man defected from North Korea just eight hours ago due to famine. He said, \u201cWe were better off under the Japanese occupation. (Currently,) The elderly die first in North Korea.\u201d He kept eating food during the interview. July 1997, Jilin Province, China. Taken by ISHIMARU Jiro (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>

An old woman is asking passengers to buy water at a train station. A boy is competing with her to sell his water to them. September 2013, South Hamkyung Province. Taken by ASIAPRESS.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>

An old woman is gleaning a post-harvest rice field for left over kernels. November 2012, a farm in Sinuiju, South Pyongan Province. Taken by ASIAPRESS.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\uff1cAbandoned Elderly\uff1e View article sections<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"rimjingang_banner001\"* <\/span><\/a>Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
\nARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
\n DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  2016\/Nov\/07 Koreans respect the elderly, and North Koreans were not an exception.  However, during the socia\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}