[2021 Muyeongo Report] 'Please Do Not Contact the Family'

<2>Unclaimed Persons Around Us

A Memo Left by a Potential Unclaimed Person
A Desperate Plea to Someone
"I Want to Ease Their Hardship"

[Asia Economy Special Reporting Team = Team Leader Ko Hyung-kwang, Reporters Yoo Byung-don, Jung Dong-hoon, Lee Jung-yoon] "Please do not contact my family."

Lee Suk-ja (74, female, pseudonym), who lives in Seoul, described herself as a potential unclaimed person. She took out a neatly folded memo from a drawer in a corner of her room. The memo contained her personal information written in neat handwriting and a request to someone who would organize her home. The part of the memo that said "Please do not contact my family" caught the eye. Lee explained, "They are my children, but they will not hold my funeral," adding, "I hate being abandoned by family like the person in room 202 (an unclaimed deceased)." She had essentially chosen to become an unclaimed person herself.

Last winter, Lee was met at the scene of the belongings cleanup of an unclaimed deceased in a building. While staring blankly at the deceased's final path, she spoke to the reporters. Being of the same age as the deceased and having a friendship with them, Lee pointed to the special cleaning company workers who were conducting the cleanup and asked, "Are those people from the government?"

After hearing that they were a private company that organizes the homes of those without family to claim the body, Lee said, "They are doing good work," and quietly murmured, "When I die, I want to ask those people to take care of my home too." Soon after, she approached one of the cleaning workers, took a business card, and returned.

In fact, Lee has family. She married in her early 20s and had three sons. However, after divorcing in her mid-30s, she lived alone, maintaining intermittent contact with her sons, but completely lost contact about 20 years ago. The reason was their blatant financial demands.

The sons initially asked for pocket money under the pretext of trips with friends, but soon began making unreasonable requests such as acting as guarantors. Lee said, "At first, I gave money to fulfill my role as a mother that I couldn't before, but when they demanded beyond my means, I cut off contact," adding, "For over 20 years, I have considered myself as having no family."

Lee rewrites the memo every month. The content is always the same. The only reason for rewriting is to prevent the memo from discoloring or the writing from smudging over time, making it unreadable. This shows how firm her resolve is. Having lived well alone, she does not want to cause even a slight burden to those who will be called family until her last moment.

As Lee said through the memo, her place was kept so clean that despite being a semi-basement, there was not a single mold stain. Throughout the interview, whenever she saw dust on the floor, she immediately cleaned it up. Lee said, "I want to reduce the hardship for those who will see my last moments," adding, "At least once every two days, I sweep and clean the house."

※ This article was produced with government advertising fees supported by the Korea Press Foundation.