Economic Status, Work, and Retirement Among Korean Elders

Abstract

The maintenance of financial wherewithal during the retirement years is an important social issue in contemporary Korean society. Elderly South Koreans living separately from their adult children draw their incomes primarily from those same adult children and from work. The South Korean retirement system is directly connected to the economic status of elderly Koreans. The history of income maintenance policies for elderly South Koreans from the years before 1960 to the present can be divided into five stages: Before 1960, The 1960s, The 1970s, The 1980S, and 1990 to the Present. The economic problems associated with aging should be dealt with through a nation's social welfare programs and not left to individual resolutions. The National Pension, the country's primary old-age pension program, is designed to cover the majority of all workers and the self-employed. The Elder-Respect Pension is set up like a universal provision for those who could not be covered under the National Pension program.