[Tracking 60 Minutes 1395] New Year Special - Long-term Stagnation: Hello, Your Winter Friday, January 10, 2025 22:00 KBS 1TV ■ IMF, Domestic Struggle Worse than Corona Merchants guarding the empty Jagalchi Market in Busan from early in the morning. One merchant complains that even though he opens his shop all day, he only makes about 40,000 won. The merchants have been working in Jagalchi Market for 30 years, but this is the first time they have experienced such a recession. The ship owners are also worried. The catch has decreased and the types of fish caught are not what they used to be, so it is difficult, but the price of fish has actually fallen. Changsin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, which has been the mecca of the garment industry since the 1960s. It is difficult to find the same vitality as before. One merchant who has been running a clothing store for over 40 years is not even making half of his previous sales. The situation is the same even when visiting a relatively large factory in Changsin-dong. As the workload decreases, profits increase, but maintenance costs are actually increasing, making it difficult to retain employees. In the end, four employees left the factory in one year. ■ The semiconductor and steel industries, which are the mainstays of the Korean economy, are also in crisis 60 Minutes visited Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, the site of the world’s largest semiconductor production line construction, after two years. The site, which was full of anticipation and energy, has completely changed. Due to the semiconductor recession, construction has been delayed or halted, and jobs for workers have decreased. Pohang City, which was strong even during the foreign exchange crisis, is now in crisis. This is because the steel industry is not doing well. Unable to overcome the recession, POSCO has closed its No. 1 wire rod plant and No. 1 steelmaking plant, and Hyundai Steel has also stopped operating its Pohang No. 2 plant. As the steel industry has fallen into a slump, Pohang’s economy has also become difficult. The number of empty stores is increasing and difficulties are continuing, but the merchants cannot stop. They keep their signs lit every day and continue to do business. “There are more than one or two people here in Namdong Industrial Complex who are struggling to survive. But more importantly, there is no hope that things will get better someday.” Park Myeong-gi / Interview with the owner of the Namdong Industrial Complex Logistics Warehouse - The Namdong National Industrial Complex in Namdong-gu, Incheon, the second largest in Korea. This place is also struggling. There is no sign of recovery in production, which has decreased due to the sluggish domestic demand. Even paying employees’ salaries right now is a huge burden for the owners. ■ Difficulties for farmers Last month, while protesters from the National Farmers’ Federation were heading to Seoul to participate in a rally calling for President Yoon Seok-yeol’s resignation, a standoff with the police occurred at Namtaeryeong Pass. As news of this spread through social media, many citizens joined in, breaking the police blockade. “I had a gut feeling that the era of bad guys was ending and the era of those who wanted to be human was beginning. I wanted to work harder at farming to feed them.” From a Facebook post by Kang Gwang-seok, Secretary General of Gangjin County Farmers’ Association - Kim Wan-su, who farms in Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do, purchased agricultural machinery worth well over 100 million won. The prices of pesticides and fertilizers continue to rise, but the price of rice remains the same. Whether there is a good harvest or a bad harvest, the price of rice remains cheap. This is because 408,000 tons of imported rice come in annually. In this situation, the government announced that it would reduce the area of ​​rice cultivation by 80,000 hectares in order to stabilize the price of rice. Farmers are protesting, demanding that the three farmer laws (Grain Management Act, Essential Agricultural Materials Support Act, and Farmer Basic Act) be enacted to prevent the plummeting price of rice and establish a stable agricultural foundation. ■ Efforts are needed to create good jobs “Even during this heat wave, I was sweating like rain because there was no fan, but I kept asking them to put one up, and it took four months to install it. “They treated us like subhumans, so they created a union to survive.” Interview with Kim Dae-ho, head of Hyundai Wia Sihwa Jihwa branch - Workers who took to the streets despite the cold weather. These were 33 workers who worked for an in-house subcontractor. They formed a union in the hopes that unfair work instructions and poor working conditions would improve even a little, but they were fired just 20 days after forming the union. Our country’s economic growth rate outlook is declining every year, every quarter. Real income is also decreasing. There is no sign of improvement in the domestic economy either. 60 Minutes of Tracking traveled around the country to hear the real public sentiment. We heard the voices of people working in various occupations about what our biggest concerns are right now and how things should change. Episode 1395 of 60 Minutes of Tracking, “New Year’s Special – Long-term Stagnation: Hello, Your Winter,” will air on KBS 1TV at 10 p.m. on Friday, January 10, 2025.