- Headline: "Bitter Cold Grips 'Subzero Zones,' Time for Giving - Ep. 1: Unwed Mothers at Salvation Army Home"
- Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun
- Date of Publication: November 16, 1976
- Summary:
“It’s surviving the winter that worries me the most,” says Choi, a 20-year-old resident at the Salvation Army Yŏjagwan, a home for single mothers in Cheonyeon-dong, Seodaemun District, Seoul. The facility, run by the Salvation Army, feels colder than ever this year. Thirty-five women live here, each carrying the weight of a single mistake that branded them as unwed mothers and pushed them into society’s shadows. Now, as the bitter cold sets in, they do not even have a warm sweater to see them through the season. The home was originally established in 1926 as a vocational training center for women. But with no long-term benefactors, financial struggles have become routine, making it harder each year to provide for those in need. Even in below-freezing temperatures that chap their hands and crack their skin, these women grit their teeth and press on. At their sewing machines, they work tirelessly, determined to turn their wrongdoing into a second chance. This is a year-end article appealing for support for welfare facilities. Beyond depicting the conditions of institutions for unwed mothers, the use of terms such as "mistake" and "wrongdoing" reflects the prevailing social climate of the time, which morally condemned premarital pregnancy and reinforced the stigmatization of unwed mothers.
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