By Yoon Ja-young
With a rising number of senior citizens living alone, safety sensors will be installed at their homes to make sure they are alive and to prevent "lonely death."
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a revision plan on the ordinance to support housing of the underprivileged got approval at the Cabinet meeting. The revision includes installing safety sensors at rental homes provided to underprivileged senior citizens.
"With the number of senior citizens who live away from their families or relatives rising steeply, ‘Godoksa' has become a social problem," the ministry noted in a media release. "Godoksa" refers to "lonely death," or the phenomenon where people die alone and remain undiscovered for a long period of time.
"There has been a growing need to get rid of the blind spots in the housing welfare system," it added.
Godoksa has been making headlines in the country as it is facing an aging population coupled with the crumbling of traditional families where children support their old parents by living with them.
According to Statistics Korea, 33.5 percent of senior citizen households are single-person households, with the number totaling 1.3 million. Data by the welfare ministry shows that there were 338 lonely deaths in Seoul in 2015. The figure includes deaths that remained undiscovered for some time as well as those who died without any family or relatives. In such cases, the local government holds the funeral for the deceased.
Experts warn that the lonely death problem in Korea is likely to get bigger as the number of single-person households is increasing steeply. Research findings project the nationwide figure to reach 3,200 in 2020.
Sensors should be installed in all public rental homes provided for underprivileged senior citizens aged 65 or older. The sensor, which detects the movement of the resident, automatically notifies the apartment management center if there is no movement detected for a certain period of time. The system will be activated only when the resident wants.
The ministry plans to install sensors in around 500 rental homes first. The revision will be executed in February.
The sensor is a part of the internet of things (IoT) home service to be introduced by the Korea Land and Housing Corp. which supplies public rental homes. To cut energy use at homes, the company plans to adopt an IoT home service which includes a light emitting diode lighting sensor, carbon dioxide sensor and data on energy use.
With a rising number of senior citizens living alone, safety sensors will be installed at their homes to make sure they are alive and to prevent "lonely death."
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a revision plan on the ordinance to support housing of the underprivileged got approval at the Cabinet meeting. The revision includes installing safety sensors at rental homes provided to underprivileged senior citizens.
"With the number of senior citizens who live away from their families or relatives rising steeply, ‘Godoksa' has become a social problem," the ministry noted in a media release. "Godoksa" refers to "lonely death," or the phenomenon where people die alone and remain undiscovered for a long period of time.
"There has been a growing need to get rid of the blind spots in the housing welfare system," it added.
Godoksa has been making headlines in the country as it is facing an aging population coupled with the crumbling of traditional families where children support their old parents by living with them.
According to Statistics Korea, 33.5 percent of senior citizen households are single-person households, with the number totaling 1.3 million. Data by the welfare ministry shows that there were 338 lonely deaths in Seoul in 2015. The figure includes deaths that remained undiscovered for some time as well as those who died without any family or relatives. In such cases, the local government holds the funeral for the deceased.
Experts warn that the lonely death problem in Korea is likely to get bigger as the number of single-person households is increasing steeply. Research findings project the nationwide figure to reach 3,200 in 2020.
Sensors should be installed in all public rental homes provided for underprivileged senior citizens aged 65 or older. The sensor, which detects the movement of the resident, automatically notifies the apartment management center if there is no movement detected for a certain period of time. The system will be activated only when the resident wants.
The ministry plans to install sensors in around 500 rental homes first. The revision will be executed in February.
The sensor is a part of the internet of things (IoT) home service to be introduced by the Korea Land and Housing Corp. which supplies public rental homes. To cut energy use at homes, the company plans to adopt an IoT home service which includes a light emitting diode lighting sensor, carbon dioxide sensor and data on energy use.
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