Lee Jae-myung Sends Letter of Comfort to 20-Year-Old in 'Caregiver Murder' Tragedy: "Ensuring Illness Does Not Lead to Poverty"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, is delivering a greeting at the launch ceremony of the Gwangju Great Transformation Election Committee held on the 28th at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Seo-gu, Gwangju. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, recently sent an email to Kang Do-young (a pseudonym), a man in his 20s who, after caring for his ailing father, ultimately left him unattended due to financial hardship, resulting in his death, offering his condolences.

On the 27th, Lee sent a letter via email to Kang’s attorney, promising, "I will ensure that illness does not lead to poverty."

Lee stated, "Kang Do-young’s life fully reflects the issues our society must resolve," adding, "The inheritance of poverty, the caregiving structure where a family collapses if one member falls ill, and the problem of young people giving up their dreams and future because of this."

He continued, "While we cannot solve these structural social problems immediately, the state must take a more active role in addressing them. I sincerely promise Kang Do-young that I will create systems to provide practical support to patients suffering from illness and families struggling with caregiving," emphasizing his commitment.

Lee also pledged measures including "expanding catastrophic medical expenses to cover caregiving costs and raising the payment limit to 50 million won," "expanding customized benefit guidance systems," "improving the out-of-pocket maximum payment system," "increasing integrated nursing and caregiving service beds," and "nationwide expansion of community-based integrated care services."

He added, "It is the duty of representatives to protect the lives of citizens by ensuring that cases like Kang Do-young and his father do not recur," and reiterated, "I will ensure that illness does not lead to poverty, and poverty does not lead to death."

According to investigative media outlet Sherlock, Kang, who had taken a leave of absence from school for public service, had been caring for his father, who collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage in September last year while working as a factory laborer. In May, after his father died of starvation, Kang was sentenced to four years in prison in the first trial on charges of killing a family member.

Subsequent reports by Sherlock revealed that Kang was unable to cover the enormous hospital bills even with help from relatives at the time.

It was particularly revealed later that Kang had been caring for his father amid severe financial hardship, with rent, gas, electricity, communication, and internet bills being cut off, yet he received no support from the local social welfare safety net, causing public uproar.

Meanwhile, the court upheld the four-year prison sentence in the second trial on the 10th.