Elderly between Korea and Japan

I. introduction In Korea, discussions on aging have passed the course from recognizing the various problems to researching concrete plans for aging in each field. 'The Basic Act on Low Fertility and Aged Society ' was established in 2005 in Korea. In accordance with this act, ‘Saeromagi Plan 2010’, the first basic plan and population policy(2006-2010) for an aging society was produced. Also the Aging Welfare Act was revised to include nursing facilities expansion in May, 2006. Employment and reeducation for the elderly were also expanded. The Basic Elderly Pension Act will begin in 2008. Elderly over 70 years will become beneficiaries beginning in July, 2008. These multilateral politics are here to deal with acting aging through the construct of a social infrastructure. Further on, there have been efforts to locate positive which an aging society can convert to resources for new social energy. However, housing welfare policies for the elderly are still insufficient in Korea. Until now a family has provided services and been considered the responsible party for elderly support in Korea. Policies to co-reside with the younger generation have also been recommended. For these reasons, public programs have not to be developed such as providing or modifying housing for the elderly. In Japan, coalition welfare policy and housing policy were planned to take effect when the aging rate exceeded 10 % in the 1980's (PCAP, 2006, 178-180). In Korea the aging population ratio was 9.1 % in 2005 and is expected to reach 10.1 % in 2010 (KNSO, 2006). Korea also enters upon the new phase a new phrase which requires social countermeasures on housing for the elderly. The purposes of this study are 1) to understand the Korean housing situation for the elderly, 2) to compare the housing welfare policy for the elderly between Korea and Japan 3) to search for methods to enhance housing welfare for the elderly in Korea