Young couple hopes to celebrate rise in minimum wage with plan to marry

Im Seon-jae embraces his girlfriend, Choi Seo-hyeon, on a subway platform at Dongdaemun History Park Station on his way to work on Nov. 6. Because the two work different hours, it is difficult for them to see each other even on the weekends, making for a special moment when they are able to meet.

A Seoul subway worker and a civic activist have been together for three years

The train pulled up to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station on Line 5 of the Seoul subway. As the screen doors opened, the passengers stepped out. The noise was too loud to hear what the man and woman were saying as they leaned against a column on the platform. But the smiles on their faces were like captions declaring, “We’re in love.” The man was subway screen door repairman Im Seon-jae; the woman next to him was Choi Seo-hyeon, a civic activist with a group advocating young people’s rights. The two have been together for over three years.

A young couple smiles as they get married during the Cherry Blossom Festival in Yeouido, Seoul on April 9.

■ “We said we’d marry when the minimum wage reached 10,000 won. . . ”

Last spring, Im and Choi respectively donned a lovely tuxedo and wedding dress amid the blooming cherry blossoms of Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood. The young couple, both participants in a civic group’s campaign to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won (US$8.92), drew attention from flower-viewing passersby with a sweetly pitched plea to “help us get married.” They would wed, they promised, when the minimum wage reached the 10,000-won mark. Afterwards, the 2018 minimum wage was set at 7,530 won (US$6.72), with the administration announcing 10,000 won as its target for 2020. Will Im and Choi’s wedding have to wait until then? Meeting with the two of them this fall, we asked the impertinent question: When are you two really going to marry?

Im Seong-jae and his co-worker repair a screen door at the Changdong Station in the Dobong District of Seoul on Nov. 6.

■ “I’m supposed to be converted to regular status, but who knows when that will happen?”

“They’ve already finished the switchovers to regular worker status at the company I’m at now,” he said, his voice trailing off at the end. Im has an indefinite contract position with the Seoul Metro corporation. In the wake of an accident at Guui Station on May 28 of last year, the city of Seoul has hired safety employees in a move to manage screen door duties directly rather than using subcontractors. Im was one of several workers brought on board that September to the fill the space left behind by a young worker’s death.

The young couple holding hands. Even though there are no engagement rings on their fingers, it is easy to observe the love and affection that they have for each other.

The summer of 2017 brought numerous reports that the city was planning to convert around 2,400 indefinitely contracted workers to regular status within the year at Seoul Metro and other institutions receiving its investment and funding. But when the plan was finally coming to fruition, an unexpected conflict arose. While new regular employee hires began at Level 7, there was talk of instituting a new “Level 8” for those converted from indefinite contract status, or including new provisions increasing the term of continuous service needed for a promotion by a few years. If accepted, the conditions would place Im and his colleagues further down the hierarchy from regular employees hired next year to do the exact same work. Some might view it as a “reasonable difference” – others as de facto discrimination.

The cracked screen of Im Seon-jae’s smartphone shows his Facebook profile page. Im has been forced to put off repairing the screen due to a tight budget.

■ “We want to hurry up and write our wedding diary”

When asked about their romance, the couple said most of their encounters are brief meetings at the subway station on the way to and from work, or late-night dates at the theater or public sauna after finishing for the day. “We’ll want to get started with a monthly rental,” Choi said. Im replied that the two would be putting off their wedding until around winter of next year. Will Im be happily ensconced as a regular worker by then, allowing Choi to be a beautiful winter bride?

Holding hands on their way to their night shift duties, the two did not even wear “couple rings” (engagement rings) on their fingers. Watching them from behind, I realized it would be foolish to even ask them for a wedding date. Im is already a worker repairing subway screen doors to protect the public’s safety, and the two of them are companions in support for one another’s lives. The bloom of youth radiated from two people working to honor the very essence of love.

By Lee Jung-ah, staff photographer

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