The July issue of the Health and Welfare Forum is themed around “Perceived Social Insecurity and Social Security Challenges in Korea.” Korea today is tagged with more than a few labels it can hardly take pride in: a society where deciding to have a child is difficult, a society plagued by high suicide rates, and so forth. The social phenomena these labels refer to may have to do, in no small measure, with how we perceive our society as members. Recently, increasing attention has been drawn not only to objective socioeconomic conditions, such as employment and housing insecurity, but also to perceived socioeconomic insecurity. Objective socioeconomic conditions perforce have a significant impact on the lives of society’s members. However, socioeconomic conditions as perceived by members of society can also greatly affect their lives. In this issue of the Health and Welfare Forum, we explore what aspects of socioeconomic conditions people in Korea perceive as insecure, to what extent, and for what reasons. We also inquire into policy options for improvement. Despite Korea’s significant economic growth in a short span of time, the level of perceived social insecurity remains high. While certain socioeconomic conditions are commonly seen as insecure by society at large, what it is about these conditions that is perceived as insecure varies considerably across different life stages. The varying nuances of insecurity perceived by different age groups―such as older adults worrying about aging and preparedness, middle-aged individuals concerned about supporting both elderly parents and grown children, and youth feeling insecure about societal fairness―warrant further investigation. The socioeconomic insecurity as perceived by people as a whole mirrors individual life experiences and cohort-specific experiences of different eras. Research into perceived social insecurity provides a wealth of information that can be used when making and implementing not only psychosocial health policies but social policies in general. Perceived social insecurity among Koreans is high, with the perception of excessive competition waxing and confidence in fairness waning. In such circumstances, the policy issues at hand are many and multifaceted, including those concerning improving both asset-tested and non-asset-tested support programs, enhancing budgetary efficiency, promoting social cohesion, and balancing work incentives with life security. The approach we need now is one that combines upscaling solidarity-based social security policies with implementing other well-knit policy measures to reduce elements in life susceptible to insecurity and enable individuals to run their lives more proactively. Any policy that views a social problem as an isolated phenomenon, losing sight of the context of which it is part, is unlikely to be the answer. The understanding offered here of perceived social insecurity, I hope, will aid in well-rounded policy efforts.

This paper examines young adults' perceptions of social insecurity, social inequality, and social security about fairness, aiming to explore the policy implications based on these perceptions. For this study, "young adults" are defined as individuals aged 19 to 34, according to the Framework Act on Youth. The analysis indicates that the level of social insecurity among young adults in Korea is quite high. Notably, social insecurity about fairness and social insecurity related to competition and inequality are significantly higher than other areas of social insecurity. Differences in levels of social insecurity were also identified across various demographic groups. Furthermore, groups experiencing high levels of social insecurity about fairness also perceived wealth/property inequality and income inequality as particularly severe. Young adults generally had a negative perception of social mobility both within and across generations, with especially negative views on intergenerational and intragenerational mobility among those with high levels of social insecurity about fairness. While groups with high levels of social insecurity about fairness exhibited significant dissatisfaction with life, it is noteworthy that even groups with moderate levels of insecurity about fairness showed considerable levels of life satisfaction. Based on these findings, the paper suggests several implications for alleviating social insecurity among young adults.

This study explores whether the prevalence of perceived social insecurity among those aged 45 to 64 varies depending on their family support burdens and preparation for old age. Middle age was once considered a golden period in life. However, as the population ages and the age at marriage increases, middle-aged people are increasingly burdened with supporting both their parents and children. Preparing for old age is proving to be increasingly difficult, not least due to precarious labor market conditions and the limited benefits one can expect from public pensions. The prevalence of perceived social insecurity among the middle-aged is high for those with family support burdens and even higher for those who report being unprepared for old age. An estimated 12.5 percent of the surveyed middle-aged individuals are found to both have family support burdens and remain unprepared for old age. People in their 40s are more frequently burdened with supporting both their parents and children compared to those in their 60s. This study found that 76.2 percent of those aged 45 to 64 perceive our society as insecure. Even with sociodemographic characteristics and intergenerational differences controlled for, those with family support burdens who are unprepared for old age have a 7 to 8 percentage point higher prevalence of perceived social insecurity. Our analysis reveals the need for strengthening social security programs to ease the perceived social insecurity attendant on the difficulties middle-aged Koreans have in supporting their families and preparing for their own old age.

In this study, I analyzed the relationship between economic resources and perceived social insecurity among older adults. Asset wealth may decrease the level of perceived social insecurity among older people. However, beyond a certain limit, greater asset holdings are associated with higher levels of perceived social insecurity related to safety. Specifically, older adults with substantial assets tend to report higher levels of perceived insecurity about safety, whereas those with fewer assets show higher levels of perceived insecurity regarding gaps, competition, unfairness, and uncertainty. Given that older adults have few, if any, steady income sources, perceived insecurity about safety among those who possess significant assets is thought to stem from their fear of asset loss. Those with lower asset holdings may experience higher economic insecurity, leading to greater concerns about the future and their ability to cope with risks and uncertainties. These findings underscore the need for enhanced support to help older people stabilize their economic conditions, with a view to lowering their perceived social insecurity and raising the quality of their lives.

This study aims to identify the core factors underlying the widespread perception of social insecurity in Korean society across different birth cohorts. It distinguishes between perceived social insecurity rooted in system and life-world levels, exploring their distinct characteristics and explanatory factors across cohorts. The analysis reveals that across all cohorts, the widening wealth gap, distrust in the government's crisis management abilities, or general distrust in the government are key contributors to perceived social insecurity. Furthermore, concerns about the system's functioning rules are prevalent across all cohorts. Differences emerge between cohorts. For those born before the mid-1970s, concerns related to system factors are more strongly associated with overall social insecurity perception, whereas for those born after the mid-1970s, those of life-world factors are more closely linked. Perceived social insecurity is a pressing policy concern due to its potential to impact individual lives and social systems. To mitigate this, policy responses should prioritize addressing the core factors that exacerbate perceived social insecurity and aim to weaken the interconnectedness of socioeconomic status, psychological distress, negative social experiences, and other factors influencing social insecurity perception through comprehensive social insecurity reduction policies.

Projected to become a super-aged society in 2025, Korea is expected to experience a rapid increase in the number of individuals in late old age and elderly people living alone―a population marked by acute needs for health care, long-term care, and caregiving services―from 2030 through the 2040s. The current elder care system, centered on the National Health Insurance and the Long-term Care Insurance and supplemented by numerous small-scale government-funded programs such as customized elder care programs, has been assessed as having issues of segmentation, duplication, shortfall, and limited eligibility in service provision. Consequently, there is an urgent need to establish a medium-to-long-term plan to increase provider facilities and service capacity in preparation for the upcoming period of rapidly expanding elder care needs. New and ongoing programs need restructuring, which should involve linking and integrating services in a way that effectively meets the complex care needs of the elderly in a fiscally sustainable manner.