Gangnam District offers gifts for residents over 100 years old

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Seoul's Gangnam District residents who are turning 100 years old this year or older will be given presents as the district office celebrates their longevity and promotes the value of respect for older people in society.

According to officials Thursday, 95 residents will be eligible for the offer by the end of 2024, with 32 joining the list of centenarians living in the southern district this year.

The number of 100-year-old or older Gangnam residents accounts for 6.3 percent of all those who belong to the age group in Seoul. This figure is among the highest out of its 25 districts, along with Nowon and Gangseo, according to the latest Ministry of the Interior and Safety data.

Gangnam residents entitled to the program can choose one of the five gifts ― an air purifier, a rice cooker, a set of blankets, a cutlery set and hanwoo, or Korean beef. The district office said its welfare division for the elderly will begin receiving applications on Monday, adding that the gifts can be collected on their behalf, if they so wish.

"We would like to express our appreciation and respect for those who have lived through turbulent times," Cho Seong-myeong, head of the district office, said in a press release.

The Koreans turning 100 years old were born in 1924 when the Korean Peninsula was still under the colonial rule of Imperial Japan. They have witnessed the division of their country, the sufferings unleashed during the Korean War (1950-53) and the miraculous economic rise of South Korea in the decades that followed.