As Families Change, Korea’s Elderly Are Turning to Suicide

[genobalto]

[QUOTE]article: [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/world/asia/in-korea-changes-in-society-and-family-dynamics-drive-rise-in-elderly-suicides.html?_r=0[/url]

SEOUL, South Korea — Even with the explosive growth of suicides in South Korea, the case of the 78-year-old widow was shocking enough to merit attention in the recent presidential election and hand-wringing in the news media.

Rather than quietly taking her life at home as many South Koreans do, the woman staged her death as a final act of public protest against a society she said had abandoned her. She drank pesticide overnight in front of her city hall after officials stopped her welfare checks, saying they were no longer obligated to support her now that her son-in-law had found work.

“How can you do this to me?” read the suicide note that the police said they had found in a purse next to her body. “A law should serve the people, but it didn’t protect me.”

The woman’s death is part of one of South Korea’s grimmest statistics: the number of people 65 and older committing suicide, which has nearly quadrupled in recent years, making the country’s rate of such deaths among the highest in the developed world. The epidemic is the counterpoint to the nation’s runaway economic success, which has worn away at the Confucian social contract that formed the bedrock of Korean culture for centuries.

That contract was built on the premise that parents would do almost anything to care for their children — in recent times, depleting their life savings to pay for a good education — and then would end their lives in their children’s care. No Social Security system was needed. Nursing homes were rare.

But as South Korea’s hard-charging younger generations joined an exodus from farms to cities in recent decades, or simply found themselves working harder in the hypercompetitive environment that helped drive the nation’s economic miracle, their parents were often left behind. Many elderly people now live out their final years poor, in rural areas with the melancholy feel of ghost towns.

Such social shifts are not uncommon in the industrialized world. But the sudden change has proved especially wrenching in South Korea, where parents view their sacrifices as the equivalent of a pension plan and where those who are suffering are falling victim to changes they themselves helped unleash as they rebuilt the economy from the devastation of the Korean War.

“The family was always an extended self,” said Park Ji-young, a professor of social welfare at Sangji University in Wonju. “Children were everything they had for their future — for health care, financial support and a comfortable life in old age. Their children’s success was their success.”

Making matters harder for the elderly, the government has been caught by surprise by the quick erosion of the traditional family structure.

The government began building a public pension system in 1988, but people say that in most cases the payments barely cover basic living costs, and many of the oldest South Koreans are not covered because they were past working age when the system was created. A government report in 2011 said that only 4 of every 10 people over 65 had a public or private pension or retirement savings.

And as the woman who poisoned herself in August discovered, the law denies welfare to people whose children are deemed capable of supporting them. That leaves some parents the humiliating choice of asking for help from their children or their government, which can grant exemptions if they can prove their children are unwilling or unable to help. In a country that puts great value on retaining face, experts on the elderly say that is a painful choice. Professor Park said some kill themselves because they feel betrayed; others are driven by a fear of harming their family’s chances of getting ahead.

They are succeeding at alarming rates; the suicides among people 65 or older ballooned to 4,378 in 2010, from 1,161 in 2000. The number of suicides among other adults and teenagers also surged, though those deaths are generally attributed to the stress of living in a highly competitive society rather than the changes in the family structure that are driving the elderly to despair.

Until the country’s rapid-fire industrialization in the late 1900s, South Korean life followed a well-trod path. Parents lived with their eldest son’s family — parents without a son often adopted one from a relative, which also continued the male lineage of the family — and sacrifices were rewarded. Historically, towns would erect monuments to their “filial children,” and some rural towns still award prizes, like televisions or cash, to solicitous adult children.

As the chances for riches grew in recent years, parents began going to lengths to try to ensure their children’s success, and by extension their family’s, that make other countries’ versions of helicopter parenting seem tame.

Some parents, the “edu poor,” drained their savings to pay for cram schools that operate after regular school and on weekends. A growing number of families even split up for years so the mothers can take their children abroad to become fluent in English, which is crucial to getting good jobs at big corporations.

The fathers of many of South Korea’s crop of golf prodigies, meanwhile, often leave their jobs to become their children’s financial managers.

Many parents also drastically draw down savings accounts to help pay for their children’s homes. The country’s biggest daily newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, railed in an editorial against “this ludicrous custom where parents sell their future to support their children.”

Other newspapers and advocates for the elderly have also begun to call more loudly for change, with the mass-circulation daily Dong-A Ilbo using the case of the woman who poisoned herself to suggest the government provide more assistance. “Our society’s family system is disintegrating too fast to require children to support their old parents,” an editorial said.

The tearing away at the family has become enough of an issue that a novel on the topic, “Please Look After Mom,” has become one of the country’s biggest-selling books in years.

The government says it is trying to help, proposing a higher retirement age so people can save more money, but that is a tough sell amid rising youth unemployment. It also began mandating that municipalities set up suicide prevention centers for all ages, and those offices have claimed some successes.

Kim Man-jeom, 73, was one. After her husband died in 2011, she was dismayed that her sons did not invite her to live with them, but she also dreaded becoming a burden. “When I saw a necktie, I considered hanging myself,” she said in an interview. She was saved, she says, by an empathetic social worker.

But in a telling sign that the root cause of distress — the fraying of the social fabric — has not been dealt with systematically, a small but growing number of elderly Koreans are dying with no one to claim them or perform the traditional rituals thought to ease their way in the afterlife.

Kim Seok-jung, who started a company in the southern city of Pusan to care for their belongings, says he is haunted by the case of a 73-year-old whose body was found last February, months after her death.

“The calendar on her wall stopped at October,” Mr. Kim said. “When I see these old people, I see how my own generation will die.”

[/QUOTE]

This is very sad. Economic pressures, health issues, and social abandonment. People's lifespans are increasing, but not so much with the level of care and attention.

[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Didn't read the OP" - Craptasket))[/highlight]

[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Whoops - Didn't read the sticky - post article snipet" - Craptasket))[/highlight]

[valkery]

Cut some of the op before you get banned.

[lolwutdude]

not surprised, korea's government is full of conservative assholes, im still wondering why we elect them

they keep working to weaken unions

they didn't pay several spies that dedicated their life to serving south korea to the point they held a flamethrower riot

they have the minimum wage that equals to $4.50 even though cost of living, ESPECIALLY in Seoul is going up like crazy due to limited space

they keep cutting welfare and among other social safety nets like the article said

seriously, fuck the saenuri party, i don't know why we're still electing these dinosaur assholes

[Beardy]

probably because most of the voting majority in south korea as of right now are the middle age and elderly and don't know any better, and the youth don't really worry about political affairs as much as youth do in other countries.

[bohb]

[QUOTE=lolwutdude;39627043]they keep working to weaken unions[/QUOTE]

Unions are a double edged sword better left sheathed.

While unions can definitely improve compensation and working conditions, like they did in the turn of the past century in America. But they can also break the back of the institution they collectively bargain with. Many unions eventually start making unrealistic demands that cripple or destroy the company and put everyone out of work.

Unions historically made sense when the government had little power to regulate industry, but really don't make any sense outside of a third world country these days.

Not to mention SK is a stones throw from China, companies could easily ship the work overseas or just relocate entirely to secure vastly cheaper labor.

[lolwutdude]

[QUOTE=bohb;39628583]Unions are a double edged sword better left sheathed.

While unions can definitely improve compensation and working conditions, like they did in the turn of the past century in America. But they can also break the back of the institution they collectively bargain with. Many unions eventually start making unrealistic demands that cripple or destroy the company and put everyone out of work.

Unions historically made sense when the government had little power to regulate industry, but really don't make any sense outside of a third world country these days.

Not to mention SK is a stones throw from China, companies could easily ship the work overseas or just relocate entirely to secure vastly cheaper labor.[/QUOTE]

south korea and united state's unions differ, cause south korea definitely just wants to equal shit out for labor workers who only get $4.50, gets screwed out of pensions at times, and etc.

i mean, a lot of korean workers, regardless what job, usually work an hour more than they're required to without pay

seriously, take your conservative mindset elsewhere, it's really easy for corporations to flourish here, especially if you're privileged cause the laws are laxed and heavily based on hierarchy focused on elders , but that still isn't helping with our economy that has slowed down A LOT nor helping the everyday korean workers

[person12]

It is much harder, and much less likely, for Unions to gain too much power than it is for Governments to claim that Unions have too much power, and then repress them into destitution.

[bohb]

[QUOTE=lolwutdude;39628763]south korea and united state's unions differ, cause south korea definitely just wants to equal shit out for labor workers who only get $4.50, gets screwed out of pensions at times, and etc.[/QUOTE]

And this is why you should never rely on your employer to maintain your pension. You should always be directly responsible for your pension and not have the company you work for or the government have anything to do with it. That way you don't get shafted like all of those other union workers that were forced to take early outs or have their promised pensions cut/removed due to the economy.

[QUOTE=lolwutdude;39628763]i mean, a lot of korean workers, regardless what job, usually work an hour more than they're required to without pay[/QUOTE]

The same goes everywhere else, don't make it sound like SK is the only place that has shit problems.

[QUOTE=lolwutdude;39628763]seriously, take your conservative mindset elsewhere, it's really easy for corporations to flourish here, especially if you're privileged cause the laws are laxed and heavily based on hierarchy focused on elders , but that still isn't helping with our economy that has slowed down A LOT nor helping the everyday korean workers[/QUOTE]

My conservative mindset? Stop being a self centered ass and acting like you're the only one with problems in this world. The world economy is in a slump, not just SK; We all have problems with unemployment, shitty jobs and crap pay. You aren't going to move to the US and find things any easier. People are flooding out of college with 50k+ in debt and can't find anything other than the local burger joint because the middle class has grown so anemic.

[lolwutdude]

[quote]And this is why you should never rely on your employer to maintain your pension. You should always be directly responsible for your pension and not have the company you work for or the government have anything to do with it. That way you don't get shafted like all of those other union workers that were forced to take early outs or have their promised pensions cut/removed due to the economy.[/quote]

and who else are they going to rely on? themselves who make equivalent of $4.5 an hour in a city that has a cost of living extremely high? themselves who usually live paycheck to paycheck? same people who even though as pensions still rely on their child and grandchild to help out with finance?

i know your privileged and all ( i'll be waiting for a made up sob story where you were or still is a hard working lower-middle class citizen of a first world country ;-; ), but you should put down your atlas shrugged and know how the real world is

[quote]The same goes everywhere else, don't make it sound like SK is the only place that has shit problems.[/quote]

great logic, everywhere else is shit so your country has to be shit too!!

[quote]My conservative mindset? Stop being a self centered ass and acting like you're the only one with problems in this world. The world economy is in a slump, not just SK; We all have problems with unemployment, shitty jobs and crap pay. You aren't going to move to the US and find things any easier. People are flooding out of college with 50k+ in debt and can't find anything other than the local burger joint because the middle class has grown so anemic.[/quote]

so because i say conditions has to be better for everyone and explain reason why we're sucking, im automatically being a self-centered ass and acting like i'm the only one with the problems in this world?

are you guys real?????

i can't tell sometimes lmao

my point is the current economic system for SK is going to shit because of the problems we have i laid out, your point seems to be 'everyone has it bad, no reason you should have it good!!!'

ps: ive been living in hawaii for a while, americans have it better okay

[Reds]

Oh boy, this thread is really going somewhere.

[Wizards Court]

[QUOTE=bohb;39628583]Unions are a double edged sword better left sheathed.

While unions can definitely improve compensation and working conditions, like they did in the turn of the past century in America. But they can also break the back of the institution they collectively bargain with. Many unions eventually start making unrealistic demands that cripple or destroy the company and put everyone out of work.

Unions historically made sense when the government had little power to regulate industry, but really don't make any sense outside of a third world country these days.

Not to mention SK is a stones throw from China, companies could easily ship the work overseas or just relocate entirely to secure vastly cheaper labor.[/QUOTE]

yes, unions make "Unrealistic demands", like fighting for awful things such as working conditions which won't get you killed and livable wages, how horrible.

i don't know why you think unions are no longer needed, the utter crippling of worker rights everywhere in the planet, suggests otherwise.