▲ Junior Reporter Kim Na Young (13, Foreign Language and Literature)

According to the National Statistical Office (NSO), the average amount of leisure time that adults over 20 in Korea spend is only 3.8 hours per day. This figure is much lower than that of other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and tells how many Koreans are doing excessive amounts of work and are facing great amounts of stress every day. Thus, a small yet thoughtful change certainly seems to be necessary.

After the great economic development that Korea has gone through during the past few decades, people started to search for happier and more relaxing lives. This was because they had already faced a lot of adversity through harsh labor, and now have enough money to have more free time. Although Koreans are raising awareness about leisure and are demanding a substitute holiday system and five-day workweeks, the government is still not taking appropriate actions to keep up with the current trend.

In order to make Korea into a leisure-based society rather than a labor-based one, the government should try to implement and learn from the positive aspects of many north European countries, including Sweden. In the case of Sweden, it is known that they have vitalized part-time employment by ensuring that, whether their job is part-time or full-time, people get the same amount of money per hour. By encouraging the employees to work only at some parts of the day, people were at last able to enjoy more leisure time in their everyday lives and also earn enough money to maintain a life without many economic problems.

It also seems that a system where they broaden the term of healing service and actively proceed with care for daily mental health of workers is needed today. This would include organizing and developing further special education program in schools to make sure that every student is as mentally healthy as possible. It would also require the government to hire professional psychologists and mental counselors that would regularly give the workers advice about how to have less stress and have more leisure time. It would also be great if there were many such professionals, so that they can keep track of the workers thoroughly.

The Korean government also needs to support the process of making healing a scientific process. To be more precise, the government should try to investigate further about healing and leisure so that people can realize the importance of it. If this happens, more people would be willing to follow this trend, and thus it would be easier for the government to carry on with its plans. In fact, many developed countries, are already starting to investigate further about this topic seriously.

To further develop changes, the government should support many talented individuals in the area of psychology and psychiatry. They should also try to invest in soft technology that is related to emotions, minds, and hearts, as they would become hot keywords of the future. By investing in such areas of the mental mind early, starting from now, the country would be able to lead the world in the healing and leisure industry.

The Korean government is making some efforts to help the country implement such a society, by attempting to design various programs for people to enjoy their free time without a lot of money. However, these are very limited and it is necessary for the government to make aforementioned changes to better society and allow people to pursue happier lives.
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