In South Korea there are parents voluntarily isolating themselves in cells. There is a word that explains it: "hikikomori"

Jin Young-hae is a fictitious name. Her story is not. A few days ago this South Korean mother explained to the BBC under the condition of anonymity that has led her to – completely voluntarily – put on a blue jumpsuit and spend hours and hours locked in a tiny, austere cell, not much bigger than a closet and in which she had no company, mobile phone, or laptop. Alone, with her thoughts. The only link with the outside from her peculiar prison was the small hole opened in the door through which they occasionally gave her food.

It sounds strange, but there is a word that explains it: hikikomori.

Objective: isolate yourself from the world. Ms. Jin’s choice may seem extravagant, but she is not the only one to have made a similar decision in South Korea. The BBC has spoken with other inmates and volunteers. In addition to requiring anonymity, they all share two fundamental characteristics. First, they are parents of young people who are between their teens and thirties.

The second is that they have decided to participate in a special program that keeps them confined for a short period of time in solitary confinement cells. And this last word can be understood in its most literal sense. Jin and the other participants are housed in tiny rooms where they cannot even bring mobile phones.

But why? To understand. Jin or Park Han-sil, another of the pseudonyms used by the BBC to relate a real case, are mothers of young South Koreans who also share another peculiarity: they have isolated themselves from the world. Jin is the mother of a 24-year-old young man who lives secluded in his room, neglecting his hygiene and food. Park has a slightly older son, 26 years old, who seven years ago decided to cut off all communication with society. Now he hardly leaves his room and refuses to take the medication prescribed by the doctors.

By voluntarily confining themselves, Mrs. Jin or Mrs. Park try to better understand their children, put themselves in their shoes in an extreme way and above all find tools to better communicate with them. “I’ve been asking myself what I did wrong… it’s painful,” Jin admits, 50 years old. Now, and after her time in the cell, she claims to have “some clarity.” Park also acknowledges that her isolation has helped him understand her son’s feelings. “I’ve realized that it’s important to accept his life without forcing him to fit into a specific mold.”

“Confinement experience”. Neither Park nor Jin decided to impromptuly seclude themselves in their homes one day. Theirs have been planned experiences and the isolation has been carried out in the rooms of the Happiness Factory, where the inmates They arrive to experience “confinement” in their flesh.

To do this, they can put on a uniform, leave their phones and laptops behind and seclude themselves in cells with bare walls, without company. The BBC clarifies that since April there are other parents who have been participating in a 13-week special education program funded by organizations such as Korea Youth Foundation or the Blue Whale Recovery Center.

The program has a clear, yet complicated, goal: to show these parents how to better communicate with their children. To do so, it includes a peculiar experience: a three-day period during which participants spend time in rooms in Gangwon province that replicate an isolation cell.

The key word: hikikomori. Jin and Park are mothers of hikikomoria term coined in Japan decades ago that identifies young people who at a certain point in their lives decide to seclude themselves almost completely, cutting off contact with the world beyond their homes or rooms.

The phenomenon is not new, but it is serious. At least according to the estimates used by the authorities. Not long ago, the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted a survey among 15,000 young people between 19 and 34 years old and discovered that more than 5% lived in isolation. If these figures were applied to the country as a whole, they would show that there are several thousand people in a similar situation in South Korea: just over half a million people (540,000).

Understanding isolation. The program, Park says, allows the parents of these young people to better understand the reasons for their confinement. For her, for example, reading notes written by others hikikomori helped him understand his own son’s silences. The South Korean government also has studies that help to get a clear idea of ​​the phenomenon of isolation among young people without having to go through an experience like that of Happiness Factory.

A study by the South Korean Ministry of Health shows that 24.1% of young people between 19 and 34 years old who decide to disconnect from the world do so because of difficulties in finding work, 23.5% because of problems in socializing and 24.8% because of family or health issues. The backdrop is the competitive South Korean society, where from a very young age parents send their children to academies so that they end up accessing the most prestigious universities in the country. South Korea also stands out for its Workdays marathoners.

Concern beyond home. The one of the hikikomori It is a phenomenon serious enough to generate concern beyond families. In 2023, the Government launched a campaign to encourage lonely young people to leave home and “reintegrate into society”, for which it did not hesitate to offer payments of 450 euros designed for young people up to 24 years old. Already then there was talk that in the country there would be hundreds of thousands of people living in isolation.

The advantages of a break. The mothers and fathers of hikikomori They are not the only ones in South Korea seeking voluntary isolation. In the country there are those who decide to confine themselves by choice, even paying hundreds of euros in exchange for the experience, simply to take a break from their busy routines.

The CBC network reported it in 2018, reported the case of Suk-won Kang, a 57-year-old engineer from Seoul who paid $578 to spend seven days at Prison Inside Me, a facility in Hongcheon. During his peculiar vacation, Kang dressed in uniform and stayed in a five-square-meter cell in solitude. During his stay the facility housed a total of 14 guests.

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