A loneliness epidemic is spreading worldwide. Seoul is spending $327 million to stop it

CNN —

Every year, thousands of South Koreans – mostly middle-aged men – die quietly and alone, cut off from their family and friends. It sometimes takes days or even weeks before their bodies are found.

These are the country’s “lonely deaths,” known as godoksa in Korean. It’s part of a larger problem of loneliness and isolation across the country, an issue so pressing the government is pulling out all the stops to fight it.

In the bustling capital Seoul, city authorities announced this week they would spend 451.3 billion won (nearly $327 million) over the next five years to “create a city where no-one is lonely.”

Their new initiatives include loneliness counselors available on a 24/7 hotline, an online platform for similar counseling, as well as follow-up measures including in-person visits and consultations, according to the metropolitan government.

“Loneliness and isolation are not just individual problems, but tasks that society must solve together,” Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon said in a news release. The city will “mobilize all of our municipal capacity” to help lonely people heal and “return to society,” he added.

GOYANG, SOUTH KOREA — JUNE 16: (SOUTH KOREA OUT) A staff at Good Nanum holds an urn that holds the remains of a man, who died in a hospice, after the cremation on June 16, 2016 in Goyang, South Korea. The number of lonely deaths in South Korea, including people who die alone at home or in a hospital with no relative willing to claim their remains, have surged from 682 in 2011 to 1,245 in 2015 according to South Korean government statistics.

Related article South Korea’s middle aged men are dying ‘lonely deaths’

The city also plans to introduce expanded psychological services and green spaces; nutritional