SW News: South Korean Church-run soup kitchens which feed hundreds of homeless and hungry individuals are struggling to continue their service owing to rising costs of basic goods and services, such as gas.

Young-moon Manager Kim of Wonju's permanent free soup kitchen, Love Sharing Jjajang, commented, "Due to skyrocketing costs, it is difficult to offer a bowl of jajangmyeon (noodle) these days, yet we cannot disappoint our always-visiting needy neighbors.”

For the last 20 years, its owner Kim Young-moon (61), has been providing jajangmyeon to his less fortunate neighbors on a daily basis (excluding Sundays). The beneficiaries include the elderly, the crippled, and the chronically ill.

On February 2, the National Statistics Office issued the "January 2023 Consumer Price Trend," which indicated the consumer price index in January jumped 5.2 percent over the same month last year, mostly owing to public electricity expenditures.

On the other hand, according to a Catholic Times report from February 15, Church-run soup kitchens that mostly depend on Catholic donations are performing worse than those that get government funding for their free meals. This year marked the highest increase in electricity rates since 2010, according to yearly figures compiled by the National Statistics Office.

The Daejeon Diocese's Cheonan St. Mary's House feeds hundreds of people for free using district office and parish money. The group has struggled due to rising food and gasoline prices. "We are attempting to save more money than before," a spokesman told the Catholic Times.

Thomas House in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, serves 300 elderly and disadvantaged people for free, Monday through Friday, utilizing only individual and group donations. Teresa Park Gyeong-ok (Teresa), the home's general manager, claimed lower donations and price increases had placed them under stress. She emphasized that fewer contributions and more expenditures will make this year particularly difficult. As there was no funding for ingredients, "Thomas' money was used to buy and serve the rice cake soup," she added.

The Catholic-funded St. Vincent's Residence in the Diocese of Cheongju had planned to resume serving free meals to the community in person, as it had done before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, there have been issues brought about by the exorbitant prices of basics.