South Korea, like other advanced economies, requires workplaces above a certain size to hire people with disabilities. Even so, some companies still fall short of the legally mandated ratio. Against that backdrop, social cooperatives that create jobs for people with disabilities point to another model of disability employment.
Yoo Seok-young, 64, the blind founder of Gudu Mandeuneun Punggyeong, or "Scene of Shoemaking," met with The Seoul Economic Daily on the 27th at Agio, the company's handmade shoe store in Seongsu-dong, Seoul's Seongdong District. "Providing cash or daily necessities to people with disabilities is necessary too, but the best welfare is giving them a job so they can live paying taxes," he said.
Until a few years ago he could still distinguish light and the movement of people. Now he is close to completely blind. He reads documents, exchanges messages and handles his work using speech synthesis software on his computer and the voice features on his iPhone. A support worker helps him when he travels outside. "People with disabilities simply have physical difficulties or disadvantages in daily life. They should not be written off as people who cannot do things," he said. "See us as economic actors."
His retina developed problems after he entered middle school, and he eventually lost his sight. As a student he was scolded by a teacher who asked why he was making things so difficult. He even heard his mother say: what sin did you commit in a past life to end up like this — go out and die. "The looks and the words from people hurt more than the disability itself," he recalled.
Still, he took heart from a neighborhood man who encouraged him, saying he had a good voice and spoke well and should try to become a broadcast announcer. His father also built up his independence, even having him work a fodder cutter to chop feed for the cattle. The turning point came in 1986, when he began working in radio. He had sent a postcard to CBS asking the station to recruit volunteers to help blind people on their summer vacations, and instead received an invitation to appear on air himself. He went on to report on the realities facing people with disabilities, and two years later served on the special reporting team for the Seoul Paralympics. After building a 12-year career in broadcasting, he said: "Supporting myself with my own work let me overcome my sense of shame and recover my self-respect."
He later worked as director of a comprehensive welfare center for people with disabilities in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, where he set up cultural programs for deaf people. Almost no one came. What they urgently needed was a workplace that would put food on the table. Recalling the hand skills of deaf workers, who once made up about 40% of production-line labor in Korea's shoemaking industry, he hired six deaf employees in 2010 while still serving as center director and took on a handmade shoe factory. He had neither experience nor capital, but after repeatedly courting master shoemaker An Seung-mun, he took Agio's first step.
There were real achievements along the way, including an order of 300 pairs delivered to a convent, but good intentions alone could not clear the barriers of the market. He ran in every direction, yet lost out in competition with well-known brands. Writer Rhyu Si-min and others, sympathizing with the cause, served as promotional models free of charge, and during the 2012 presidential race, candidate Moon Jae-in bought a pair at a shoe sales event at the National Assembly. It was not enough.
In the end, the Paju factory closed in 2013, three years and eight months after it opened. More painful than the tens of millions of won in debt was the fact that he had inflicted the pain of unemployment on the workers with disabilities alongside him. "Back then we had no sign language interpreter, so there were plenty of misunderstandings and conflicts inside the company, but we got past them and promised each other we would live with dignity, paying taxes. I couldn't keep that promise," the founder said. "The staff actually consoled me, saying I had been through a lot. That hurt even more." He later enrolled in a graduate school of special education, determined to keep trying.
The miracle came four years after the closure. In May 2017, the presidential office called, saying then-President Moon Jae-in was looking for a pair of Agio shoes to wear on a trip to the United States. The artisans had already scattered, so he had no choice but to decline, and he wept for a long while on his way to church. Days later, the media caught a glimpse of worn Agio shoes with a split sole in photographs of Moon paying respects at the May 18th National Cemetery. They were the shoes he had bought himself as a presidential candidate in 2012. Once they became known as "the president's shoes," support poured in to Agio. After much thought, Yoo went to see Rhyu Si-min, whom he had first met in 1989 during his reporting days. Rhyu told him the president had laid the groundwork for sales, so they should try again, and offered to handle promotion. That set the relaunch in motion. Yoo formed a social cooperative and, with roughly 200 million won each from member contributions and advance orders from the public as seed money, launched "Agio Season 2" at the end of 2017. Rhyu, along with celebrities including Lee Hyo-ri and Yoo Hee-yeol, took part actively in promotion without accepting modeling fees.
Made with genuine leather and sturdy materials, Agio's handmade shoes mostly sell for 200,000 to 300,000 won. Patina custom shoes, made after precise measurement of the customer's feet, cost 590,000 won but draw high satisfaction. Much is sold online, but in April the company opened its first offline store outside its Seongnam factory, in Seongsu-dong. "With handmade shoes, the more you hammer, the closer they get to the foot," the founder said proudly. "If ordinary shoes make the foot fit the specification, Agio makes the shoe fit the person's foot."
Even after the relaunch, crises continued, driven by inexperienced management and the COVID-19 pandemic. Suffering from insomnia and obsessive symptoms, the founder stepped down as chief executive in 2021 and moved in 2023 to lead the Seoul Gomduri Sports Center. Having recovered his health, he returned to Agio in March this year. Agio now employs 24 people in total, including 16 deaf employees along with master shoemakers and sign language interpreters. His plan is to build a company where 30 deaf employees work with stability and to help them grow into master artisans. He also dreams of taking the staff on their first overseas trip next year, the 10th anniversary of the relaunch.
"I will build a social enterprise that turns a profit for certain by selling good shoes at a reasonable price," he said with a broad smile. "And if people would each wear just one pair of Agio shoes, our deaf employees can go on living happy lives as members of society."
