SOUTH KOREA: Loneliness has reached epidemic proportions in South Korea, especially among middle-aged men. Many of them are dying alone, and it often takes days or weeks before family or friends find their bodies.

In Korean these lonely deaths are called “godoksa” and it appears that loneliness has become such a big problem in the country that the government is spending some 451.3 billion won (about USD$327 million) to combat it, according to a CNN report.

The government aims to spend this money with a five-year plan to “create a city where no one is lonely”.

The new initiatives include a counselling service hotline that will be operational 24/7, as well as in-person visits and consultations.

A loneliness epidemic is spreading worldwide. Seoul is spending $327 million to stop ithttps://t.co/EvDgcVjXRC

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The mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, said in a press release, “Loneliness and isolation are not just individual problems, but tasks that society must solve together. The city will mobilize all of our municipal capacity to help lonely people heal and return to society.”

Some of the plans that the city is intending to carry out include expanding psychological services and green spaces; providing nutritional meal plans for middle-aged and elderly residents, providing a dedicated search system to identify isolated residents who need help and conducting activities to encourage people to venture outside and connect with others.

These include activities like gardening, recreational activities, and book clubs.

According to the Ministry for Health and Welfare, the number of lonely deaths had gone up to 3,661 last year from 3,559 in 2022. More than 84% of them were male and more than half were men in their 50s and 60s.

A psychology professor at Myongji University, An Soo-Jung, said that in some cultures, loneliness occurs when people have relationships that are not fulfilling. In Korea, the feeling of loneliness comes when an individual feels unworthy or lacks purpose.

Other factors contributing to loneliness include a rise in single-person households, a decline in social interactions outside of work and family and an “achievement-oriented” culture, which makes people who haven’t achieved their goals feel lonely.

“When we all pursue the same values excessively, we end up losing ourselves. Our society demands highly collective social living but often fails to respect the individual – meaning people struggle to deal with solitude or the feeling or failure,” said An.

Efforts that South Korea has made in the past include the Lonely Death Prevention and Management Act. The government also passed a law allowing reclusive youth to obtain financial support amounting to USD475 a month to help them with living expenses and to re-enter society.

An said that she is not sure if “expanding physical connections will fundamentally solve the problem of loneliness… it’s not something that can be easily changed by a single policy”. The reason is that there are complex, culturally specific factors at play.

“We need to cultivate the ability to care for both ourselves and others. But our life in society is so tough, so it feels like we lack the time to even care for ourselves.”