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Isolation, seclusion as a 'new normal': Does Korea need a loneliness minister?

Published: 14 Jun. 2025, 11:11 Updated: 14 Jun. 2025, 13:09

A man in dispair [JOONGANG ILBO]

Kwon Ki-hyun, 37, says he has maintained minimal relationships for over a decade, consisting of just his family members and a couple of friends.

He rarely left his home unless necessary, like when he had to buy daily necessities or go to the bank.

“I didn't bother to make new connections, and I didn't try hard in the few relationships that I had,” Kwon said, reflecting on his years of solitude.

More people have grappled with feelings of reclusiveness and isolation in the past years, with some going as far as to lock themselves away from the outside world completely.

The issue has even grabbed the attention of politicians in South Korea.

As part of the response to the growing threat of loneliness and reclusiveness, the ruling Democratic Party proposed designating a vice minister for loneliness during its presidential campaign to tackle what it described as a “new-normal phenomena.”

A job seeker browses a job bulletin board while holding a resume at a job fair in Seoul's Gangnam district on June 5. [YONHAP]

Isolation refers to a state where an individual has limited to no social interaction with others, and no one to call for help in case of an emergency, according to a report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA). Seclusion is when people voluntarily isolate themselves from the outside world.

A 2021 KIHASA survey estimated that around 540,000 young adults aged 19 to 34 were at risk of isolation or seclusion, equivalent to five percent of the total population in the age group.

Of them, nearly 244,000 people were found to have shown signs of seclusion.

Based on such estimates, the welfare ministry conducted an in-depth online survey of the same age group in 2023, which showed 24.1 percent of them began their reclusive lifestyles after failing to find a job.

Another 23.5 percent pointed to relationship problems, trailed by 12.4 percent who blamed family relationships, while 12.4 percent said issues with their health drove them to self-confinement.

Dudeojip, a home for reclusive youth, located in Seoul's Eunpyeong district [YONHAP]

The tendency to shut off from the world stemmed from the “dissolution” of traditional safety mechanisms, such as family and work, which played some role in safeguarding individuals from the harsh realities of industrialization and capitalism, said Kim Seong-a, an associate research fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, who presided over the survey.

“In the past, people could get jobs 'guaranteed for life' and lead a so-called normal family life,” Kim said. “Nowadays, younger people send out hundreds of resumes but still can't get a job, and even when they do, it's usually a temporary position,” she added.

Recently, the number of young adults reported being out of work simply to rest is increasing at an alarming rate, with some 378,000 people aged 20 to 29 falling in the “resting” category last month, up 3.3 percentage points from the same period last year, according to data from Statistics Korea.

The Korea Employment Information Service estimated the number of people in their 20s who “rested” during the first quarter this year to be roughly 420,000, the highest since 2010.

Kwak Keum-joo, professor emeritus at Seoul National University's psychology department, stressed that a sense of helplessness is something that is acquired through repeated failures or discouragement.

“The scary thing about it is, once the feeling wins over you, you don't try anything, even the things you can easily achieve,” she said.

Kwon, who quit his last job about three years ago due to stress from facing other employees, says he had been reluctant to find a new job for fear of quitting again.

It was at the suggestion of his mother, who had become increasingly worried about her son, that he visited Dudeojip, an organization dedicated to helping reclusive youth “interact with reliable colleagues” and receive basic training to reenter society. There, Kwon felt understood and eventually garnered enough strength to try again.

Dudeojip, literally translates as a house for moles in Korean, is a home located in Seoul's Eunpyeong district that was renovated to accommodate reclusive youth and offer various job programs and interactive programs, such as photo-taking workshops and lunch gatherings, where participants cook together and share their meal at the dining table.

It is run by a nonprofit organization, “Seeds:s,” which also manages an online community where reclusive youth can share their daily accomplishments, however small, and encourage others to do the same.

Dudeojip, a home for reclusive youth, located in Seoul's Eunpyeong district [YONHAP]

The growing number of reclusive people stretches beyond South Korea.

Similar tales are also told in many other developed countries, experts say, suggesting the phenomenon is something that comes hand in hand with economic development.

Britain was the first country to adopt a “loneliness minister” in 2018 to create a government command center in charge of addressing the issue, and to let it be known that loneliness is a social problem that could affect anyone.

Japan followed suit with its own loneliness minister in 2021 after suicide rates skyrocketed following the COVID-19 pandemic.

On whether South Korea should appoint someone in charge of loneliness, experts said while it could act as a pointer to show willingness to tackle the issue on a government level, questions remained over its effectiveness.

Loneliness is interlocked with various issues and would require “pan-governmental support” for it to lead to effective policy, said Professor Hong Seon-mee, who teaches social welfare at Hanshin University.

“The vice minister would have to look into the issue comprehensively in terms of lifelong education, job support, welfare and housing problems, which are all handled by different ministries,” Hong added.

Kim Seong-a said responding to the problem of seclusion was to deal with the circumstances of “fragmented individuals” who were cut off from society and social welfare.

“This would require reframing the welfare system from one designed by experts and suppliers into one serving the recipients,” Kim said, noting this change of perspective would be the “grand agenda” of the welfare system.

While the current debate is centered on reclusive youth, Kim says men in their 50s and 60s, who account for the largest proportion of lonely deaths in the country, should also be on the radar for support in the future.

Currently, there is no official data on the state of reclusiveness for other age groups, but the government announced plans to conduct a survey on all age groups over the age of 13 in May, marking the first time to track such data on a nationwide level.

Reclusive youth gather to take part in a yoga program at Dudeojip in Seoul's Eunpyeong district on June 12. [YONHAP]

What stood out to Kim in the survey on reclusive youth was how over 80 percent of the respondents said they wanted to break free from their reclusive lifestyle.

“Many of them want to come out and connect with others, but they're scared to do so,” Kim said, noting that the decision to seclude was a result of external factors.

“You don't call choosing the only option that you have left voluntary,” she said.

Kim Ye-ji, 31, first came to Dudeojip for a neurodiversity program, only to realize that she, too, had suffered periods of isolation in the past.

But Kim, who now teaches movement yoga classes at the facility, says experiences of isolation or even seclusion are temporary states of mind, something that could affect anyone at least once during their lifetime.

“I don't want it to define someone as who they are, but to think of it as a state they are in now, a process,” Kim said.

Yonhap