"More Expensive Meals Than on the Mainland,
and the Heavy Burden of Annual Lump-Sum Rent"
The phenomenon of early-career civil servants resigning from their positions is intensifying within the public sector of Ulleungdo. As the number of resignations among low-tenure civil servants in Ulleung County, North Gyeongsang Province, shows little sign of decreasing, there are growing calls for urgent improvements to the island's poor living conditions.
According to Ulleung County and related sources on the 18th, the number of voluntary resignations among early-career civil servants in Ulleung County has reached 104 over the past five years. Voluntary resignation refers to leaving one's position or duties at one's own request.
The Ulleung County public sector claims that the main reason for the consistent annual average of over 20 resignations is the challenges related to housing, food, and clothing.
Currently, there are 330 early-career (Grade 9, 8, and 7) civil servants in Ulleung County, but only 80 official residences are available (48 in Ulleung-eup, 21 in Seomyeon, and 11 in Buk-myeon). As a result, solving the housing shortage is the most urgent issue, but it is difficult to address immediately due to constraints in securing budget and land.
In particular, the main form of housing rental in Ulleung is the one-year "sageulse" system. When landlords and tenants sign a monthly rental contract, the entire deposit and rent for the contract period must be paid in a lump sum upfront. The average annual rental cost is between 8 million and 10 million KRW, and this amount is reportedly rising every year, placing a heavy financial burden on tenants.
Because all daily necessities and food ingredients must be transported to Ulleungdo by sea (passenger or cargo ships), the cost of living is relatively high compared to other regions, making even a single meal more expensive.
This year, the starting monthly salary for a Grade 9 civil servant, including various allowances such as a position allowance of 175,000 KRW, meal allowance of 140,000 KRW, public service support allowance of 50,000 KRW, and special area duty allowance of 40,000 KRW, totals around 2.4 million KRW. Without access to official residences, living conditions become extremely difficult.
Fortunately, since the inauguration of County Governor Nam Hankwon, efforts have been made to reduce staff burdens by revitalizing the Ulleung County Health and Medical Center’s cafeteria, providing a self-service lunch for 6,000 KRW. However, with limited seating and concerns about infectious diseases at the medical institution, there are calls for more fundamental solutions.
Given the insufficient monthly salary of early-career civil servants, some argue that, before addressing the housing shortage, operating a staff cafeteria to provide at least one affordable meal per day would help ease the burden on employees.
One Grade 9 civil servant, identified as Mr. A, said, "I started my public service career in Ulleungdo with pride, but I feel a sense of shame having to rely on my parents for financial support. As both a civil servant and a resident, I hope efforts will be made to improve working conditions, such as establishing a staff cafeteria."
An Ulleung County official stated, "As resignations among early-career civil servants intensify, we will seek fundamental and practical solutions to issues like regional extinction and population decline. We will also do our best to resolve the cafeteria issue through close cooperation with local merchants."
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