THE KUKMIN DAILY

Jongdalsae (lark) Library in Inhyeon-dong, Seoul, has operated as a specialized library for the visually impaired during the past 20 years. But library director Rev. Shin In-shik (60·photo) said on September 24 that the library is facing a serious budget crisis with an accumulated debt that is forcing it to shut down.

In an interview with Kukmin Daily, Rev. Shin said, “The library software has been out of order since last June, but we’re unable to fix the problem due to lack of money.”

Jongdalsae Library reads via phone to visually impaired persons, some 50 kinds of periodicals such as daily newspapers and magazines, internet contents, and other valuable information. The library’s sound-recordings so far amount to nearly 10,000 hours. The customers also include elderly persons who have difficulty reading. Now, however, the library has had to stop its services because of the 200 million won debt it has accumulated. All six of its employees have left.

Rev. Shin said bitterly, “Having to close down the library is sad enough, but it is heartbreaking that there is such a huge debt to pay, along with the delayed wages of the employees.”

Rev. Shin is well known to the visually impaired, as “the one who continues to meet challenges.” He lost his vision when he was four years old due to an optic nerve injury. But he did not stay “impaired.” He delivered newspapers, worked as a phone operator and as an overnight security guard at a school, and played drums at a dance hall, all the while continuing his studies. His dream to help and to share the Gospel with persons facing special challenges, began when he learned that the parents of such children often suffer from an inferiority complex. He was just a middle school student then. After graduating from high school in 1978, he established the Korea Service Center for the Visually Impaired, and began publishing the tape-recorded magazine “Echo of Love” and helping specially talented children. He opened Jongdalsae Library in 1994. His “voice-service providing system on internet portals via telephone” was patented in 2008.

Rev. Shin said, “Although Jung-gu District Office granted the special library permit in 2000, the government support was too little. I hope that Korean church members will pray for and support the library, for the sake of the nearly half a million visually impaired persons in Korea.” (011-755-7004)

Article and photo by reporter Yeong Dae Yoo (ydyoo@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)


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