Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
Cases of abuse of senior citizens rise amid prolonged pandemic
The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to be stuck at home, resulting in increased family conflicts and cases of abuse of senior citizens according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. gettyimagesbank
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
The number of cases of abuse of senior citizens has increased over the past year apparently due to people being stuck at home and spending more time with family members amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Tuesday.
Nine in 10 of such cases occurred at home, with sons accounting for the highest percentage of abusers at 34.2 percent.
According to the ministry, there were 16,973 reports of alleged abuse of senior citizens in 2020, up 5.6 percent from the previous year. Among these, 6,259 reports were confirmed as actual cases of abuse, however, this was still up 19.4 percent year-on-year.
A report issued by the ministry showed that 88 percent of the cases occurred at home, while 8.3 percent took place at nursing homes, followed by 1.5 percent at senior citizen community centers and 0.6 percent at hospitals.
Regarding the types of offenders, sons accounted for 34.2 percent, followed by spouses at 31.7 percent, staff at nursing homes at 13 percent and daughters, 8.8 percent.
With regard to the types of abuse, emotional and physical accounted for 42.7 percent and 40 percent, respectively.
“Due to the prolonged public health crisis, people have had to spend more time with family at home. This may have increased family conflicts and resulted in increased abuse of the elderly,” an official from the ministry said.
Based on the report, the ministry will enhance countermeasures to cope with the increasing cases, and expand relevant education and counselling services, while increasing the number of facilities to protect the elderly, according to the official.