FIRST SENIOR CENTER FOR FOREIGNERS

[Anchor Lead]

Elderly foreigners are on the rise in Korea as there are now more multicultural families and foreign workers in the country. But they don't have the same access to ordinary senior community centers as Korean senior citizens. But recently, the nation's first senior center for elderly foreign citizens has opened its doors in the city of Siheung, Gyeonggi-do Province.

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Senior citizens sing and dance together. In one corner, they play games of Korean chess and mahjong, while others enjoy chatting amongst their friends. This place looks like any other senior citizen centers in Korea, but the elderly people here are all foreign nationals or naturalized Koreans.

[Soundbite] KIM YEON-IM(NATURALIZED IN 2005) : "They're all smiling and enjoy all sorts of activities together."

They moved to Korea with their children or in search of jobs. But now that they're older, they were in need of a comfortable recreational space. They found it hard to mingle with other Korean senior citizens at regular community senior centers. They had to resort to wandering in parks near their homes even when the weather was bad.

[Soundbite] YUN HA-SEOP(NATURALIZED IN 2006) : "There wasn't a place for us, so we all went to local parks. In ordinary senior centers, we couldn't communicate well and didn't have the same customs."

There are several social service centers for multicultural families, but this is Korea's first senior citizen center for foreigners. When the number of elderly foreigners spiked near industrial areas, the city of Siheung invested some 1 billion won to purchase a building and register it as an official senior citizen center. The city even subsidizes the center's operation cost every month.

[Soundbite] YANG SEUNG-HAK(SIHEUNG CITY GOV'T EMPLOYEE) : "We provided a place for them to operate independently. They're proud of being members of the community."

Most of the elderly members are either naturalized citizens or Chinese nationals, but anyone 65 years or older, regardless of nationality or place of residence, have access to the center and its services.