Inside South Korea’s Social Impact

Scene from the forum on August 19 (Photo by Milly)   I have discussed community integrated care several times on this blog. As South Korea has officially become a super-aged society, active discussions and policies around care are underway nationwide, with local governments implementing initiatives tailored to their specific regional contexts.   In Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, where I currently reside, discussions on care are also actively taking place. On August 19, I attended a forum organized in Goyang to explore future development directions for healthy integrated care. In this article, I want to share the key takeaways from that forum. Rather than focusing strictly on Goyang, I will examine why community integrated care is vital for South Korean society as a whole.   Aging in Place: Staying in the Community You Know🐤   Historically, care in South Korean society was largely viewed as an individual family responsibility or provided through institut...

 In 2024, Korea’s medical welfare cooperatives celebrated their 30th anniversary with a commemorative event. Pictured: the anniversary ceremony. (Photo by Milly)   In a previous post, I wrote about how social economy organizations play a vital role in realizing community-based integrated care. Among them, one of the most notable examples is the medical-welfare social cooperative, which I briefly mentioned. In this post, I’d like to take a closer look at what these cooperatives do.   😊Providing “Healthy Care” for Local Residents   As Korea transitions into a super-aged society, there is growing awareness of the need to move beyond hospital-centered care and instead build systems that allow older adults to age in place — within the communities they know and love. In fact, Korea plans to implement the Integrated Care Support Act in 2026, which has sparked public sector discussions about how to provide care services more efficiently.   In this cont...