By Park Moo-jong
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The Beatles sang, "... Doing the garden, digging the weeds. who could ask for more? Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four."
Fifty-two years ago, it must have been taken for granted that, by the age of 64, one would be retired and spending their rest of life, maybe "doing the garden" or "digging the weeds" as the Beatles sang.
If Sir McCartney were 25 years old now, he should change the song to "When I'm Seventy." Still, however, the singer-songwriter is jumping with his guitar and shouting on stage at the age of 76.
Amid a flood of bad news like the economic foes, mounting tension between Seoul and Tokyo, never-ending partisan feud, ever-increasing influence of militant unions, to name a few, good news arrived a week ago: The government considers raising the legal age of a senior citizen ("noin" in Korean) to 70 from the present 65.
The Moon Jae-in administration, after a long time, worked out a good policy to better adapt to the rapidly aging society.
According to the latest WHO data published last year, life expectancy of South Koreans is 79.5 for men and 85.6 for women for the average of 82.7, giving the nation a World Life Expectancy ranking of nine.
To recall, the current senior citizen's age of 65 was set 38 years ago in 1981 in consideration of the then average life span of 66.1. Now it's 82.7, increased by 16.6. Raising "only" five years for the new age of senior citizen may not be enough to meet the coming super-aged society.
Though belated, the government's decision this time is very timely. OECD data showed last year that 31.5 percent of Koreans over 65 were working after retirement, more than double the rich countries' club average of 14.5 percent.
As The Korea Times reported Jan. 26, many Koreans perceive old age as being over 70. However, by law it is over 65.
Furthermore, the current retirement age is generally at 60. This means that "young" senior citizens still with physical strength and experience are left, wasting time. Even at most big firms, those in their 40s have been replacing their seniors at important jobs.
Our society tends to waste its precious human resources in a widening gap between generations without considering abilities, experience and achievements of the "older" generation.
There are too many "young" aged people in this society. This is a national waste. The serious unemployment situation among middle-aged people is not "none of our business," with the number of self-employed sharply increasing at the cost of their retirement allowances. In reality, their "startups," mostly diners and small shops, are suffering financial difficulties due to worsening economic conditions.
According to the latest government statistics, elderly citizens account for one out of eight Koreans last year, and the proportion will increase to three for every 10 by 2040.
The percentage will rise to 24.3 percent in 2030, 32.3 percent in 2040, 37.4 percent in 2050 and 40.1 percent in 2060. The speed of aging is unprecedented in human history and is second to none in the world.
One thing fortunate these days, however, is the fact old age is not what it used to be. The concept of old age is changing even faster than we think. As our life spans extend by leaps and bounds, we are also growing older more slowly.
Today, 60 is really the new 50, or maybe even the new 40. Medical doctors recommend these days, "Multiply your age by 0.7. For instance, if you are 70 and multiply it by 0.7, your physical age is 49."
Some may be complaining of the slow motion and slow thinking of old persons. In fact, memories of most senior citizens are short as Sir Norman Wisdom (1915-2010), an English actor and singer-songwriter, said: "As you get older, three things happen. The first is your memory goes and I can't remember the other two."
But let's remind the words of American actor William Holden (1918-1981), one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s and 1960s: Aging is an inevitable process. I surely wouldn't want to grow younger. "The older you become, the more you know; your bank account of knowledge is much richer."
Don't lament getting older. We have lots of "God-blessed" technology to help senior citizens in their daily lives. Fortunately, they invented Google and Wikipedia just in time for us. A simple fingering your smartphone will help find your gone memories.
Older people even over 70 may be now spending more time online than doing the garden or digging the weeds.
In terms of ways to cope with an aged society, we need to take a lesson from Japan, which experienced such a society earlier than us and raised the retirement age, not legal age of old person, to 70 from 65 in 2013.
There are lots of problems for the government to increase the old person's legal age to 70. For instance, there may occur a conflict over job opportunities between young jobseekers and senior citizens. It's the very role and responsibility of the government to find a solution. Young people are also the old people of the future.
The sooner the government makes a decision to raise the legal age of senior citizen, the better it will be. In the process, the government needs to listen to the voices of senior citizens. Wise old ones know how to meet the change of the time positively.
Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.
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