Mart Kids

'Mart kids' ― the loneliest in crowd

Children play video games at the electronics goods section of Home Plus in northern Seoul. Receiving no proper care during the daytime, these so-called “mart kids” spend most of their daytime at shopping malls while their parents work. / Korea Times photo by Kim Tae-jong

By Kim Tae-jong

An 11-year-old elementary student, under the alias Choi Seok-hyen, goes to a big shopping mall near his home in northern Seoul by himself in the morning almost every day during the winter break.

He goes straight to the electronics goods section and plays video games for hours. If he is hungry in the afternoon, he goes to the food court in the basement. After finishing his favorite pork cutlet, he continues his tour of the mall until he gets back home late evening.

Choi is one of the so-called “mart kids” who spend most of their hanging out time at big shopping malls, while their parents work. 

They choose a nearby shopping mall as an alternative playground while most of their peers go to private cram schools or hagwon. 

“It’s fun to be around here,” Choi says. He was a bit intimidated by the approach of this reporter but soon started to quickly move his hands on the controller. “It’s not cold here and you can play different video games for free.”

Big malls equipped with various products and services are an attractive place for children like Choi. In the different sections they can read books, watch animals sold as pets, look at various toys and try some free food at free-sample stands on the grocery floor.

The consequence is children receiving no proper parental care during the daytime flock to big malls, which are usually located in residential neighborhoods. 

They come to a mall alone but groups of three or four children are seen around the mall, pulling a cart and running up and down escalators. People around them raise their eyebrows but no one really cares much about them. 

“You can see those kids every day. About six to seven kids come here almost every day,” Kim Hyeon-young, a member of staff in the game section of Home Plus in Sangam-dong, Seoul, said. “Since the beginning of the winter vacation, they stay here from morning to late evening.”

Such children are obviously a headache to mall staff but there is no way they can prevent them from coming or provide them with necessary safety precautions. 

“I simply ask them to leave so that other people can try the video games, but they don’t normally listen to me. And it’s sometimes irritating when they have a minor fight to play,” Kim said. 

Experts have raised safety concerns over the children hanging out in malls without proper care. 

“Most importantly, they can easily fall victim to crime,” said Kim Seung-kwan, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. “Or they can also commit minor crimes such as stealing since they can be very impulsive.”

Kim believes the increase of such mart kids is attributed to the lack of proper welfare programs for them. 

“The state-subsidized welfare programs focus only on children from the families of the lowest-income bracket. Meanwhile, those from comparatively less poor families or double-income families are neglected by welfare programs even though children receive no proper care. I think more after-school programs could be one of the solutions for children who need care,” he added. 

Although more welfare programs are required for children, the government has even failed to organize one unified channel to deal with child welfare. Welfare policies and programs are inconsistent and inefficient as they are split among the Ministry of Gender Equality & Family, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. 

Along with various welfare programs for children, many also argue that more affectionate attention should be given to children in the first place. 

“A mall seems to be a very ironical place,” movie director Park Ji-eun said. “It has almost everything for kids from toys to game machines and the place is always crowded. But those kids are the icon of ‘loneliness in a crowd’ and it has no love that kids really need.”

Park, who has recently released an 11-minute short film about “mart kids,” had to observe and talk to many of them for her film. Then, she realized that they seemed to be more isolated from society. 

“When I approached them, they tried to avoid me. They seemed to be very introverted and defensive. Most don't seem to be accustomed to getting any affection. That’s why I feel really sorry for them,” she said. 

Guide Questions:

1. Is this any different from the latch-key kids of double-income families in other countries? What do you think would be the effects on the child?

2. Whose responsibility is it to make sure these kids have safe places to pass their time (the government? schools? charities? parents?) 

3. What are their parents thinking?  Where's the disconnect, where these kids fall through the gaps?

4. The idea of free-range parenting: giving kids enough freedom to develop a sense of independence - is good, but
5. Is it so bad for kids to have minimal parental supervision?  When I was a kid, my brother biked all around the city, as long as he was home by dark.  Why are people so freaked out now by unsupervised kids?
6. After talking about "Tiger Moms" who fill their kids' entire days with study and lessons, and "Mart Kids" who don't have any structure at all, what do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the two systems?

Vocabulary:

Latch-key kids

Susceptible