A 'yogurt auntie' rides her electric cart through an alleyway in Seoul in November, 2018.ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images
It’s a chilly Monday afternoon in Seoul’s central business district, and most people on the street are hustling back to the office after their lunch break, eyes glued to screens, earphones blocking out the rest of the city as they prepare to re-enter the stress of the workplace.
By comparison, Shim Gwee-suk is an oasis of cheerful calm. Wrapped in a puffer jacket, she stands next to a large, white refrigerated cart, like a supersized beer cooler on heavy-duty wheels. Inside are a dozen varieties of fermented milk drinks, yogurts and other health products.
Ms. Shim, 69, is a Yakult ajumma, or yogurt auntie, a fixture of Seoul and other major South Korean cities for decades. As the name suggests, the practice originated with Yakult, the Japanese probiotic brand, but has since expanded to cover related products.
Indeed, Ms. Shim, despite working for Hy, the company formerly known as Korea Yakult, didn’t have any of the squat, red-capped bottles in her cart, which she said are easy to find in convenience stores, unlike the exclusive products she stocks (many boasting exclusive, and slightly dubious, health claims).
Jeon Deuk-soon stocks her mobile refrigerator, in Seoul on Nov. 5, 2020.WOOHAE CHO/The New York Times
For many older Koreans, yogurt aunties such as Ms. Shim furnish something more than probiotics: They provide a sense of community. While Ms. Shim makes sales on the street, she also delivers to offices and apartments, wheeling her cart into elevators and along narrow corridors, greeting regulars with a smile and asking them about their lives.
“I like to know that someone is waiting for me – it forces me to be diligent,” Ms. Shim said. “I have become very close with some of my customers, and I feel grateful for them, and think they are grateful for me.”
As of 2025, more than eight million South Koreans live alone, accounting for 36 per cent of all households. In this “super-aged society,” where some 20 per cent of the population is 65 or older, many singles are elderly, and the government has warned of a growing crisis of loneliness and disconnection.
A survey of 3,000 single-person households in Seoul last year found that more than 62 per cent experienced persistent loneliness, and 13.6 per cent said they had no support network to which they could turn if they experienced emotional distress, sickness or sudden financial trouble.
The number of godoksa, or “lonely deaths” – whereby people, often older men, die alone and are not found for days or even weeks – has been on a steady increase, from 3,378 in 2021 to 3,924 in 2024, according to Korean government statistics. Seoul has dedicated $423-million to tackling the issue over the next four years, aiming to “create a city where no one is lonely.”
Ms. Shim sees herself as helping with this issue. Whereas often a hurried shopping transaction can increase someone’s sense of alienation – or just involve a robot – yogurt aunties are known for taking the time to chat to customers, as Ms. Shim did, politely pausing her interview with The Globe and Mail to rightly prioritize one of her regulars.
Jeon Deuk-soon talks with client Yang Hae-in.WOOHAE CHO/The New York Times
The job itself can also help: Ms. Shim became a yogurt auntie after her children left home, and many of her colleagues are also older women. Ajumma, though often loosely translated as “auntie,” literally means married, middle-aged woman, and this demographic still dominates the industry, though recent years have seen a growing number of younger people become yogurt pushers, as gig work has become more widespread.
Yakult first began employing older women for door-to-door sales in Japan in 1963, and the trend swiftly took on in other markets. Today there are an estimated 80,000 “Yakult ladies” worldwide, mostly in East Asia. In South Korea, the yogurt aunties were among the first wave of women to join the work force as the country industrialized in the 1970s on its way to becoming one of the “Asian Tigers.”
Like those working for delivery companies and ride-share platforms, Yakult ajummas balance the flexibility with ensuring they bring in enough to make the work worthwhile. For its part, the company is keen to promote success stories, inducting two employees into its Hall of Fame in 2024 after they earned upward of 230 million won ($215,000).
While seen as somewhat old-fashioned, the Yakult ajummas have kept with the times: Hy rolled out battery-powered carts in 2016, and customers can now find and connect with their nearest yogurt peddler via an interactive app.
Ms. Shim says Hy is keen for customers to buy subscriptions to various health products, shoring up a certain amount of sales each month, but many resist this.
“They prefer to drop by and have a chat,” she said.
With reports from Ryu Seoyeon