Seoul Memorial: 435 Homeless Deaths, Zero National Outcry
The Korea Times reports on the annual 'stairway of memory' at Seoul Station Square, where 435 plastic roses represent the homeless who died in the past year, nearly all 'unclaimed deaths.' These are lives deemed expendable, too inconvenient for a society obsessed with global standing. It's a stark contrast to the performative outrage often reserved for geopolitics, where 'humanitarian concerns'
frequently serve as thinly veiled pretexts for intervention or arms deals, never for the quiet suffering within. One might wonder where the breathless condemnations are from the US State Department, which routinely issues human rights reports on nations like South Korea. Their latest 2023 report acknowledges 'significant human rights issues,' yet the systemic failure leading to hundreds of
preventable deaths goes largely unremarked, dwarfed by concerns over 'freedom of expression' or 'assembly,' which, while important, rarely result in cemeteries of the forgotten. The message is clear: some deaths are more politically useful than others.