The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) held an Open Forum for Policy for the Promotion and Protection of Rights of the Elderly on 22 June 2012.
Korea has already turned into the Aging Society where the elderly people consist of 7~13% of the entire population and will expectedly become14% within 5 years. In this regard, poverty rate of the elderly is 3 times more than the average poverty rate and their suicide rate is exacerbated to a serious level according to OCED.
Taking note of this situation, NHRCK established the Policy Planning Group for the Promotion and Protection of Rights of the Elderly on February 2012 whose members are experts from the academia and civil society. NHRCK also had several internal meetings and consultations with external experts so as to seek policy alternatives on the basis of the survey conducted by them.
This forum included presentations whose topics were health, housing, labor, income, and social participation of the elderly. NHRCK would like to propose recommendations on legal and institutional improvements for the promotion and protection of rights of the elderly based on the discussion at the forum.
