Future Public Conflicts That Aging Will Bring in Korea: A Comparative Analysis of Korea and Japan

The purpose of this study is to analyze Korea's aging society in terms of public conflict, to analyze the conflict issues that aging will bring, and to present a pre-emptive response. Methods adopted to this end include a literature review and comparative case analyses involving Korea and Japan. Three issues of public conflict were selected in the literature review: (1) increased demand for cremation facilities, (2) expansion of elderly care and dementia facilities, and (3) job competition between the young and elderly due to the extended legal retirement age. Then, by applying the conflict process frame of Ralf Dahrendorf and Lewis Coser, the two countries were analyzed in terms of structural situations, deepening awareness of these situations, and mobilization of organizational-political power. The study thereby deduced implications regarding the differences between the two countries. Korea and Japan are experiencing similar social phenomena or problems due to aging. However, there are some differences between the countries in how these phenomena are perceived and how the problems are solved. The background of these differences can be summarized as (1) long-standing ideological confrontation in Korea, (2) differences between Japan and Korea in the cultural perception of conflict, and (3) differences in governance in terms of social consensus and institutional acceptance.