The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on Monday that it would set up a 24-hour call center for residents suffering from severe feelings of loneliness and isolation.
The need for such services provides another glimpse into the cultural effects of population collapse.
city government said A “Goodbye Loneliness 120” hotline is scheduled to open in April (“120” is the number Seoul residents can dial to contact the city government). The government has earmarked about $330 million for call centers and other anti-loneliness efforts.
AI-powered chat systems use instant messaging platforms to power telephone hotlines. kakao talk It is popular in Korea. The therapists who answer the phones and program the chat system are all people who have overcome their own struggles with loneliness.
Anyone who contacts us via phone or chat system. eligible You can receive follow-up support such as further counseling, on-site visits, and even emergency interventions. City officials encouraged family and friends to use the hotline if a loved one is suffering from extreme loneliness.
Another part of the program is the “Soul Heart Convenience Store,” a series of four stores where people can mingle while eating “Soul Ramen,” a city-owned brand of ramen. Loneliness counselors will be stationed at these locations.
The city of Seoul also plans to launch a series of “challenges”, similar to video game achievements, where lonely people can meet people by attending festivals, library reading groups, cooking classes, and other similar events. . Participants in these challenges will receive perks such as free tickets to future events.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said that loneliness and isolation are “issues that must be solved together within society,'' and vowed to mobilize all the city's resources to realize “Seoul without loneliness.''
That would be a tall order. Mayor O quoted According to city government data, one in four elderly residents in Seoul will live alone in 2022, while a survey in January last year found that at least 130,000 young people are “ostracized and isolated.” I answered that I feel it. Some elements of Seoul's loneliness efforts target older people, such as city-funded exercise classes.
The budget includes funds for: find Approach and reach out to lonely people using techniques such as monitoring water and electricity usage, convenience store shopping habits, home residence, etc. Gosiwonan incredibly small apartment popular with people living alone in South Korea.
“Social problems such as low happiness, high suicide rates, and depression are all linked to loneliness,” Oh said, justifying such surveillance programs.
South Korea is experiencing the world's worst population decline. Latest data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance showed Although the population is expected to grow slowly in 2023, some analysts say this is almost entirely due to increased immigration, with the native Korean population still on the decline. are.
Currently, South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world, with only 0.72 children born per woman, far below the minimum birth rate of 2.1 required for population stability.
Low birth rates mean the population is “aging” rapidly, with more older people relying on a dwindling pool of younger workers to cover benefits. Currently, 18.6 percent of South Korea's population is classified as elderly, and 22.5 percent of them live alone. An increasing number of people are reaching old age without having children.
South Korean President Yun Seok-yew declared In June, he declared a “national demographic emergency'' and promised a “comprehensive response system by all governments until the problem of the declining birthrate is overcome.''
One of the Yun administration's ideas for preventing population collapse was invite Koreans living in other countries, especially Russia and China.
A group of Koreans known as the Goryeo people immigrated to Russia in the late 19th century, but were forced to migrate to Central Asia in one of dictator Joseph Stalin's ethnic cleansing campaigns. Many Goryeo people settled in the former Soviet states of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, where they have now lived for generations.
The South Korean government has taken steps to facilitate the return of Goryeo people to their ancestral homeland, providing support for family relocation and language classes, as many do not speak Korean.
Returnees are finding jobs in South Korea's manufacturing industry, where there is a serious labor shortage. But observers say Goryeos may not be contributing much to the loneliness crisis because they do not interact with their Korean-born compatriots and remain largely isolated.
Some South Korean parents are reportedly reluctant to send their children to schools with large Goryeowon populations because the language barrier slows down the learning process and Korean education is notoriously competitive. Some people say they don't like it. Conversely, dissatisfied Koreans have a high dropout rate.
