7/21/2019 Save Our Society Edition 2

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What is theissue? Walking down the streets of Seoul, you are more

likely to see teenagers and young adults than elders.

The everyday nature of this problem tricks many

of us into thinking that we Koreans do not have to

concern ourselves with the seemingly trivial issue of

aging, as aging merely seems like a natural cycle. In-

deed, aging of an individual is an undeniable process

of life. However, aging of a society, also known as

population aging, is a detrimental cycle that is stead-

ily tightening its grip around our nations throat.

The issue of aging in our society is direr than ever

before. In fact, according to the Korean Herald, South

Korea is currently the fastest-aging country in the

world. From 1970 to 2013, the elderly population

quadrupled, a rate that is twice as high as the OECD

average of 1.6 times. According to the National As-

sembly Research Service, if Korea consistently ages

at this rate, South Koreans will be extinct by 2750.

Why is aging such a huge problem in Korea? The

answer to this question lies in the decreased birth

rate and longer life expectancy. Following the Kore-

an War in the early 1950s, South Koreans remained

primarily focused in the agricultural regions; the

Total Fertility Rate (TFR) exceeded six children per

woman as their dependence on agriculture required

as many hands as possible. Thus, in response to the

population explosion that occurred in the 1960s

and 1970s, South Korea initiated a two-child pop-

ulation policy and promoted the idea of having no

more than two children. This policy was surprising-

ly effective, causing a decline in the TFR to 1.74 by

1984. Soon afterwards, however, South Korea real-

ized that the policy worked too well. As the nation

reached the status of a developed nation and be-

came a leading gure in medical technology, the

life expectancy rose signicantly from 53 years in

1960 to 81.37 years in 2014, while the TFR remained

at an all-time low of 1.25, causing an unhealthy

imbalance between the birth and death rates and

gradually building up to the current aging crisis.

Why should we care?Among South Koreas population of 49.3 million, 47.3% are in the age range of 25 to 54, according to World Population

Review. This means that in four decades, nearly half of our nation will be considered elders, or over 65 years of age. Take

a moment to let that sink into you: half of our nation will become elders in less than half a century. It is thus no wonder

that experts predict that South Korea will be extinct by 2750 if Korea continues to age at this rate.

If the potential extinction of our nation is not enough of a warning, here are some more problems that are slowly starting

to arise as a result of aging:

Labor shortage and chronic

economic sluggishnessRisingwelfarecosts Excessively conservative trends

dominating society

Generally, young adults are more

capable of doing labor than the el-

ders. Especially for tasks that require

physical strength, the elderly cannot

produce nearly as efficiently as the

youth. Thus, as the ratio between

the youth and the elders becomes

increasingly increasingly lopsided

towards the elders, our nation will

face inevitable labor shortage and

subsequent economic sluggishness.

What can we do?IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS

The government should rst focus on alleviating the various problems that have arisen as a result of aging, especially

the issue of labor shortage. First of all, the retirement age, which is set to be raised to 60 in 2016, should be further

extended. The average life expectancy of Koreans - 80 for men and 85 for women - has reached that of other advanced

nations, most of which set the legal retirement age at 65 or older. Furthermore, the government needs to consider

modifying the immigration policies to accept more immigrants, especially those with professional skills.

LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS

In the long run, we want to combat the root of the problem: low bir th rates. The government is currently trying to

incentivize the public to produce more children so that the ratio of the elderly to the youth can be balanced out. How-

ever, as of now, the public is not persuaded, the main reason for which is the lack of a sense of urgency and awareness

of the issue.

It is no exaggeration to say that we are the future generation. It is a little too late to educate those in their 40s and

50s about the importance of having more than one child, but it is denitely not late to educate teenagers about the

aging crisis and what they can do to help. If teenagers enter their twenties and thirties with a clear awareness of the

issue, they will consider having more than one child to collectively combat the crisis.Until the aging crisis becomes alleviated, however, the best we can do is improve the living conditions for the elders.

According to Joongang Daily, it is better for a poor elder to live in prison than in a retirement home, because the con-

ditions of retirement homes are horrible. Even if we do whatever we can to solve the issue of aging, we cannot change

the fact that 47.3% of our population is going to join the elderly group in 40 years. Thus, the best thing we can do right

now is to help improve the living conditions of the elderly by pushing for policies favoring the elders welbeing, actively

reaching out to the elders through various community services, and most importantly, taking proper care of the elders

in our own families. After all, if we all start taking better care of our own parents and grandparents, dont you think the

general welfare of the elderly will improve tremendously?

With an increase in the elderly pop-

ulation comes an inevitable rise in

welfare demands for the elders. This

will directly affect all of us, as the

money for welfare comes from tax.

Thus, the higher the demand for

government welfare, the higher our

monthly taxes will be.

Although somewhat stereotypical, it

is generally true that elders possess

more conservative views than the

youth. Thus, with the increasing ag-

ing crisis, our society is going to lean

more towards conservative trends.

However, in a rapidly growing, glob-

al society in which innovations and

changes are welcomed, it is un-

healthy for a society to have a majori-

ty of its population advocate conserv-

ative values over progressive ones.