To get a modern perspective on the aging population in South Korea, I looked at a Telegraph news article and some statistics that illustrate the conditions in which the elderly exist. It seems that South Korean society is becoming more individualistic as more seniors live outside of family homes. Because South Korean society has had a history of elders relying on their children for providing housing, food, etc., the state does not have a very strong pension system. This system is underdeveloped as it has not been a high priority. Seniors living solely off of pensions receive about the equivalent of $600 per month. This is hardly enough to provide comfortable housing, so the standard of living for the elderly is fairly low. Many experience “nursing problems, economic anxiety, psychological anxiety or loneliness” from the pressures of self-dependency (Smith, 2018).
One of my main questions while reading this was why are so many elders living on their own and why are their families no longer providing for them? One answer is that the seniors do not wish to be an economic burden on their children who have their own kids to provide for. Additionally, the birth rate in South Korea is concerningly low which has made the country considered an “aged society” (Smith, 2018). This label is given to any country with more than 14% of its population over the age of 65. There isn’t a large enough working class to pay for the pension system in place. The president is undecided as to how best to solve this issue. He does not wish to pull funds from other sectors yet taxing the already overwhelmed working population would lead to a possible increase in poverty and unrest in the younger generations. Because of this, many elders are forced to continue working to support themselves.
I looked at a second article, written in 2014, that provided statistics for the elder society in South Korea expressing that “28.1 percent of all suicide victims in South Korea are over the age of 65. And about two-thirds of the elderly suicide victims endure extreme poverty before deciding to end their lives,” (Koo, 2014). Koo (2014) attributes this development as to the weakening of filial piety that stemmed from Confucianism thousands of years ago. This idea is portrayed by the image of the elderly picking up pieces of trash on the side of the street in hopes to sell them to recycling. The fact that some have to rely on this method for supplemental income supports the theory of the deteriorating Confucius ideologies of utmost respect for elders and filial piety.
Reading these articles and statistics was very saddening because there is a very obvious downward trend for the elders in South Korean society. The ideals that were analyzed in the first journal article I read about the importance of filial piety have been completely shattered as an overarching belief across the nation. Suicide is a prominent issue in South Korea with rates that ranks 10th worst in the world. Finding that a large portion of suicide victims are part of the elderly community represents a potential worsening of the issue as time goes on and the population ages. There’s not much hope for the betterment of this issue besides the president finding a way to improve the lives of seniors by increasing the funding of the pension system or through other means of public spending.
Koo, Se-Woong. “No Country for Old People: South Korea's Dire Problem of Elderly Poverty.” KOREA EXPOSE, 24 Sept. 2014, http://koreaexpose.com/no-country-for-old-people/.
Smith, Nicola. “Old People Struggle to Survive as South Korea Becomes 'Aged Society'.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 7 Oct. 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/07/old-people-struggle-survive-south-korea-becomes-aged-society/.
Comments
This post was very interesting to read. As a Korean American, I feel very sad about this. Living in America all my life, I have a deep sense of companionship with my grandparents and parents, and it hurts to know that the elderly in Korea are feeling this way. It hurts to know that half of all the elderly are considered poor in Korea, and I hope people take measures to fix this.
Your post as well as the article was a very interesting read. I thought it was really shocking that almost half of all the elderly are considered poor in South Korea. What was even more surprising was that South Korea seems to be one of the most stingiest in funding these programs out of all the developed countries.