총 36페이지

Cover Story
andmarriagedidnotreallyenterourplans.Ourparentscouldnotunderstandthisandurgedustogetmarried.Cometo
thinkofit,IthinkIregretthisalittleasmanyofmyfriendsarestillunmarried,enjoyingtheirliveswiththeirlong-time
partners.
I find the new housing policy quite welcoming. “Mom I got a room! It is 15 minutes from school and both of my
roommates also go to the university.” My daughter, Seon-ah, happily reports to me over the phone. You may call it a
generationgap.Withhalfthepopulationlivingalone,ithasbecomesohardtogetadecentstudioandithas,inreverse,
left an overflow of big empty houses. Now they are becoming filled with flat-sharing university students. Envy arises
insideme.Seon-ah,soyoungandenjoyingheryouth.Havingroommateswillbebetterthanlivingalone.Ihadretired
frommyjobacoupleofyearsago.NowIwasreallyalone,onceagain.HadIeverimaginedmyselftobecometheliving
exampleofone-personhouseholdthatIhadwrittenabout?
Icallmyex-husband.HehasbeenlivingalonesincethedivorceandIjustbelievehewouldknowhowtodealwith
living alone. “Don’t worry too much, you will be fine.” Jun-seok hangs up. More than 50 percent of the households
intheentirecountryarelivingalone,sowhatisthebigdeal?Ihadnotimaginedtheworldtochangesomuchsince
2013. Jun-seok tells me I will be able to find great communities services that I can join. He also suggests working
asa‘Care-sitter.’WhenIbegangatheringresourcesforthefeature,Ihadasomewhatnegativeviewonthewhole
propaganda on one-person household in the media. I had initially thought the economy was only trying to gauge
moneyoutofthepoorpeoplelivingaloneandthegovernmentwasnotdoinganythingtosolvetheproblem.Good
productsandserviceswereonlyforthosewithmoney.
A‘Care-sitter’issomeonewhotakescareofbabiesforworkingparents.Itisanewtypeofjobthatisrecently
beingpromotedbythegovernment.Retiredwomenareencouragedtoapplyfor‘Care-sitter,’sincefewmarried
womenstayathomenowadays.Thegovernmentispromotingthisnotonlytoincreasetheemploymentrate,but
alsotoensuresufficientchild-careservices.Manyexpertsovertheyearshavebeenstressingtheimportanceof
childrenexperiencingsufficientdirectcontactwithpeoplearoundtheminordertonurturetheirindependence.
Somedirectmantomancontactseemstobethebestprescriptionformerightnow.
Aftermydutytoday,IvisitthesilvertowndowninYang-pyeongtosecureahouseformyfuture.Thereare
onlyafewnursinghomesnowadays.Thetrendhasmovedontosilvertowns,designedtoprovidecomfort
andconvenienceforitstenants.Irememberthesetownsbeingveryexpensivemanyyearsagowhenithad
beenintroducedforthefirsttime,butnowithasbecomecommonandaffordable.Iamnotexcitedtoage
butthesilvercommunityseemstobeprettyinterestingwitheveryonegettingtogethereveryday,tryingto
maketheirlivesalittlemorefunandactive.
2013...
Individual thoughts and society trends have been
changing all the time throughout the history. However,
family structures in a society are something that can
greatlyinfluencethesociety.Lawsandsocialsystems
shouldaltertofitthechangingunitofthesociety,but
they are currently generally focused on two to four
people households. The current increase in the
numberofsingle-personhouseholdsshouldbeon
thewatchlist.
cherrymangos@hufs.ac.kr
jhgom23@hufs.ac.kr
APRIL 2013
23

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