By Kim Rahn
A 62-year-old finance professor at a college in Seoul will leave the school in three years when she reaches retirement age. But she feels she can still work.
“I don’t want to stay at home all the time without doing anything concrete. Even though I don’t make big money, I want to keep socializing,” said the professor, surnamed Ju.
“I may be able to work as an advisor to financial firms. Or I may help children learn English as a contribution to society, as I speak good English from my overseas study experience,” she said.
There are millions of people in Seoul like Ju, who are nearing retirement or has already retired, with the same desire.
To address this genuine need, the city government will open a support center next month in northern Seoul to assist senior citizens and those nearing retirement find new jobs, engage in voluntary services and receive education.
It said Seoul has 1.04 million people aged 65 and over and 2.4 million “future senior citizens” aged between 48 and 64, and the city needs to help them make their retirement lives more livable.
“We are witnessing an increasingly aging population. We need social attention, responsibility and investment in their rights, health and living,” Mayor Park Won-soon said in a briefing at the City Hall, Tuesday.
The master plan is focused on expanding previous measures and providing tailored programs for citizens’ different education and job backgrounds.
The support center will help middle-aged citizens make plans for their life after retirement. “These people have good academic backgrounds and are financially stronger than those currently in their 70s and 80s. They have a stronger desire to socialize,” city official Kim Kyung-ho said.
The city will provide lifelong education programs and form a pool of retirees who have good skills and desire to work. It will also establish a database for the 210,000 elderly people who live alone in poverty to provide necessary help and offer them long-term lease houses.