Time to institutionalize rights of the elderly

If someone asks who the most vulnerable group in our society is, it would not be so easy to answer. The Covid-19 pandemic hinted at an answer, but no one seems to be addressing it. The pandemic confirmed that the elderly are the most vulnerable...

By Jang Deok-jinThe author is a professor of sociology at the Seoul National University.

If someone asks who the most vulnerable group in our society is, it would not be so easy to answer. The Covid-19 pandemic hinted at an answer, but no one seems to be addressing it. The pandemic confirmed that the elderly are the most vulnerable members of society.

Although Covid-19 led to many deaths and illnesses across society, it was incomparable to the suffering of the elderly at nursing homes. While the entire society was on high alert regarding hygiene and disinfection at schools, workplaces, and public transportation, which primarily young people use, it is impossible even to figure out how many people lost their lives to Covid-19 in nursing homes for sick, elderly people. Relatives did not bother to learn the exact cause of death when elderly people died in quarantine, unable to hold the hands of their loved ones. If it turned out that Covid-19 was the cause of death, the process would only become complicated. If life and death do not matter much and no one cares to learn their cause of death, they are the most vulnerable indeed.

Elderlies enters a subway in Seoul. [YONHAP]

It is almost impossible for an elderly person to take a taxi nowadays. A few years ago I went on a business trip to another city. The taxi stop next to the sports complex was not a place to catch a taxi but a place to wait for a taxi called by an app. These days, taxis don't pick up passengers without knowing their destination. An older lady with a confused look had no idea why empty taxis wouldn't give her a ride.

It was impossible to explain to her how the taxi should be called through an app. I wanted to order a ride for her, but I could not call my taxi until she got off. While I didn’t know what to do, my taxi arrived, and I had to get on it. I still cannot forget the frustrated face of the old lady as the middle-aged man who was the only person trying to explain the situation was leaving. Nevertheless, I haven’t heard of the government having any plan for the mobility rights of the elderly.

If a car driven by an elderly person causes a traffic accident, the media highlights the elderly driver. Stressing the age of the driver in a car accident, which is not a serious crime, only leads to the assumption that old age caused the accident. Older people might have slower responses but tend to drive slower and safer. No one considers whether the accident's location or the circumstances were prone to an accident. When the age of drivers is bound to go up due to the aging of the population, no policy requires necessary safety measures on cars driven by older drivers. For female drivers who cause traffic accidents, it is hard to find media coverage connecting gender to the accident. However, elderly people do not protest even if they are mistreated.

Such a perception puts pressure on elderly drivers to voluntarily return their licenses. They can return their licenses if there are alternatives, but how can they move when they cannot even call a cab? Japan is experiencing social aging 20 to 25 years ahead of Korea and has a term called “purchase refugee.” Now that small neighborhood shops are gone, older people who cannot travel to markets far away starve. The exact number is unknown, but according to media estimations, there are about 6 million such people.

These days, no parents dare to say they will live with their children in the future. I sometimes ask students about it when dealing with related topics in class. Not one of the 20 students says they will care for their parents after retirement. It is not a choice after contemplation. They didn’t even think about it. Not many students plan to get married; if they do, they believe only the couple is the family, and their parents will no longer be in it. The parents of the spouse are not even considered. Parents nowadays would not know what their children think.

I conducted data analysis at the request of the Seoul National University National Policy Forum in 2019. Thirty years of data from more than 50 countries participating in the World Values Survey shows that love and respect for parents fell by as much as 30 percent while the aging rate increased by 20 percent. It is a warning that if the rights of the elderly are not clarified and institutionalized at this stage, the elderly will soon be treated as a burden in Korea, whose population is aging fastest in the world. We must consider whether it is suitable for the country to cling to the troubled millennials and Gen Z.