ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

In 2025, South Korea entered a super-aged society. The Korean baby boom generation will be the first cohort to spend its later life. The fact that the largest population group in Korea must now confront old age, a life stage characterized by the highest demand for care, inevitably gives rise to complex and far-reaching social consequences. The “care crisis” reflects precisely these structural conditions. Demographic change constitutes a fundamental driver of social transformation; consequently, the lifestyles of the baby boom generation and their political choices regarding the distribution of the social resources will function as a critical barometer of South Korea's future social trajectory. Furthermore, the rapid advancement of technologies, including anti-aging biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and robotics, which increasingly attract public and scholarly attention, further complicates this constellation of issues. This article traces the complexity of the challenges confronting South Korea's baby boom generation and argues that, in light of these circumstances, this generation bears a greater degree of communal responsibility than others. It further contends that the normative grounds for this responsibility are rooted in concerns for social sustainability and equality.

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