82% of national veterans live alone

[Anchor]

Tomorrow (Jun. 6) marks the 70th Memorial Day.

Currently, there are over 150,000 national veterans living alone, and more than 80% of them are aged 65 and older.

However, the provision of customized support to ensure their dignified retirement is severely lacking.

Reporter Kim Yea-eun has the story.

[Report]

94-year-old Kim Tae-soo participated in the Korean War at the age of 19.

He also served in the Vietnam War, and suffers from the aftereffects of Agent Orange exposure.

He has been living alone since his wife was hospitalized in a nursing home two years ago.

[Kim Tae-soo/National Veteran: "Being alone makes me think a lot about the past... because I was exposed to Agent Orange, I got colon cancer..."]

92-year-old Woo Sang-soo, a veteran of the Korean War, also lives alone.

He uses veteran home care services, but the caregiver only visits once a week, leaving him feeling anxious.

[Woo Sang-soo/National Veteran: "(The caregiver) only comes once a week. They talk with me and sometimes clean here..."]

Currently, there are about 155,000 national veterans living alone.

Among them, more than 80% are elderly aged 65 and older.

While the demand for their care is increasing, only 1 in 10 veterans living alone use veteran home care services.

Legislation to prevent their social isolation and solitary deaths was only proposed this past February.

[Kim Min-young/Professor of Public Administration at Jeonju University: "(The average age of national veterans) is over 70, and there are many elderly living alone, so there are quite a few of them who are in a welfare blind spot."]

As the average age of national veterans exceeds 70, tailored support to ensure a dignified retirement for them is urgently needed.

This is KBS News, Kim Yea-eun.