“Blind masseurs jump from bridge”:(Photo credit: AP) The story as reported by CNN (first reported by Yonhap, a Korean news agency) is definitely a combination of five words you wouldn’t expect to see together in the news. I could think of a few other unlikely (but wonderful if true) five-word combinations: “Chicago Cubs win World Series”; “North Korea finally declares capitalism”, “U.S. finds Osama Bin Laden”, and so on.
This story has a rather sad tint to it, however. Since 1963, South Korea has allowed blind people - and only blind people - to give medical massages. It became a law in 2006 after a number of protests by blind people; after actually becoming law, the sighted people protested against the new law themselves, filing suit to overturn the new law. According to the CNN report, “the country’s Constitutional Court [similar to the American Supreme Court] is expected to rule soon on an appeal filed by several sighted people who argued that the profession cannot be the exclusive domain of the blind.” According to the New York Times, “they contend that the law violates their right to employment. A ruling could come as soon as next week.”

Recently, the South Korean health ministry granted licenses to sighted masseurs and masseuses to practice certain kinds of massages. Before then, sighted people could not legally be licensed or give medical massages. That hasn’t stopped a much larger number of sighted masseurs working illegally around the country.

This change in policy (and pending court case) led blind masseurs to protest in a most peculiar way - by threatening to jump off a bridge over the Han river. 26 protesters were arrested by police in riot gear, while at least one actually jumped off the bridge to avoid being arrested (see photo below):

While this story has made headlines on CNN and the New York Times (links go straight to the stories), the story has yet to appear (as of this posting date) on the Korea Times or the Korea Herald - two of the largest English-language newspapers in Korea. A little surprising - although I hope it’s simply an issue of translation or posting their version of their story (instead of ignoring the story and hoping it’ll go away).

Why on earth would Korea let only blind people become masseurs? Why, I’m glad you asked. According to the New York Times article, Japanese colonialists introduced the idea in 1913 of reserving masseur jobs for the blind. In 1946, sighted people were no longer prohibited to work in the trade, but the rule was reinstated in 1963. The South Korea constitution guarantees the right for people to choose their jobs, but according to the NYT article, it also “requires the state to protect the disabled”. The problem is a little evident when you consider the supply and demand - and there’s much more demand than licensed supply. From the NYT article:

About 7,100 legally blind people work in about 1,000 massage parlors in South Korea, and they are the only legally registered masseurs in the country. But they can hardly meet the demand, and so tens of thousands of so-called sports massage centers, skin-care salons, barber shops, hotels and public bath houses employ sighted, but illegal, massage workers. Estimates of their number range from 150,000 to 700,000.

Being a miguk (American) and essentially unaware of the Korean culture towards protecting those with disabilities (but having a professionally licensed massause in the family), I suggest the following steps:
Step 1: Enable blind masseurs to better compete with sighted masseurs. Being a former Business major with a Marketing emphasis, I’d be quick to point out the advantages (whether real or perceived) of a blind masseur. Perhaps they have a more sensitive touch, or perhaps some people would choose a blind masseur over a sighted masseur. It’s why some people shop at the corner store rather than the ‘big box’ store even though the prices might be a little higher.
Step 2: Ensure licensing regulations / laws are written to ensure compliance, whether given to a sighted person or a blind person. After allowing a grace period for those already practicing to become licensing, begin to crack anyone unlicensed - blind or sighted.
Step 3: Direct job training / licensing fees from sighted people into programs run by the blind for the blind. I wouldn’t even create a new government agency to oversee the money - simply use the government or private agencies that already exist.Step 4: Encourage blind people to apply themselves in fields beyond massages. Millions of blind people around the world work in fields as diverse as accounting, machine operators, pickers, customer service manager, assistant store manager, barber, piano tuner, bicycle repairman - and that’s from just searching two websites. Blind people are not so disadvantaged that they need a government helping them keep a monopoly in an fast-growing field. The thought is not only ludicrous, but traps the blind population into a mindset that they must rely on others instead of taking their life into their own hands. The loss of one sense does not undo a human’s soul, a personality, or one’s ability to work for a living as most humans have to these days.