Legislative Consideration towards Eradicating Abuse of Older Persons

As the Republic of Korea is becoming a super-aged society, abuse of older persons continues to persist as a critical and unresolved social issue. Despite the enactment and implementation of several domestic legal frameworks—including the Act on Welfare of the Aged, the Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment of Domestic Violence Crimes, and the Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of Victims—significant legal and institutional shortcomings remain. These include the structural limitation of regulating abuse of older persons only within the chapter of welfare facilities, the ambiguity and inconsistency in the definition and scope of elder abuse, fragmented and insufficient educational initiatives, and the absence of essential protective legal mechanisms such as ad-hoc measures, protective custody, protective orders, and court-appointed defense attorney. Furthermore, the lack of dedicated shelters poses an ongoing challenge. Additional problems within the domestic violence-related laws include the narrow definition of family (limited to legal or de facto spouses), insufficient monitoring system of compliance with protective orders of perpetrators, lack of aggravated penalties for abuse in older age, and the omission of mandatory reporting for suspected cases. To address these issues, this paper proposes the enactment of a comprehensive and specialized legal framework dedicated to elder abuse prevention and response. At the same time, it suggests the revisions to existing laws to improve their clarity, effectiveness, and protective capacity, ultimately aiming to strengthen the legislation for the eradication of elder abuse in Korea.