‘K-Senior Industry’ to Help Overcome the Aging Crisis ... Looking to Japan’s 20 Years of Experience for Solutions

[Financial News] South Korea has the world’s fastest rate of population aging. With the domestic senior industry market poised for explosive growth to 241 trillion won by 2030, a major shift in perception is needed to see rapid demographic change not as a crisis but as a compelling business opportunity. Financial News is seeking milestones for the senior industry that can turn the future ahead into an opportunity for growth, and proposing proactive solutions.
First-Class economic newspaper Financial News will hold the ‘2026 fn Senior Industry Conference’ on November 12 at the International Conference Room of Bankers’ Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul. The theme of the fn Senior Industry Conference, making its debut this year, is ‘Aging Japan, Aging Korea: Solutions for a Future That Arrived First.’
The conference will take a multifaceted look at Japan’s 20 years of trial and error and experience responding to the challenges of a super-aged society, which it entered before South Korea, and at how it built a vast ‘silver economy’ ecosystem. To address shortages of long-term care workers, Japan has integrated advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and care robots, establishing what is known as ‘care tech’ and setting a global standard for the senior industry.
At the conference’s first session, the head of Murata Associates, a globally renowned authority on the senior industry, will deliver the keynote address, examining ‘Structural Changes in Japan’s Super-Aged Society and the Senior Industry.’ Murata is an expert who has long studied the senior industry and aging societies, and the only Japanese member of The Society, the largest U.S. think tank focused on the senior industry.
Kim Myung-jung, a senior research fellow at NLI Research Institute (NLI), who has studied labor and social security systems in Japan for 25 years, will assess Japan’s pension and insurance structures and the economics of longevity risk. Tokyo correspondent Seo Hye-jin will give a vivid account of the senior industry in Japan, based on reporting there.
The second session, ‘Aging in Place (AIP): Growing Old in the Home You’ve Always Lived In,’ will address a major shift in South Korea’s senior industry market. Private capital, including domestic financial holding companies, life insurers and private equity (PE) firms, is making a full-scale entry into urban premium care facilities, housing-based Aging in Place (AIP), and the wealth management and trust markets, reshaping the landscape.
Cho Yong-beom, CEO of KB Golden Life Care, will discuss the role of businesses based on domestic and international examples of long-term care facility operations. Kim Jong-hoon, CEO of Shall We Partners, and Park Jun, an investment division director at IMM PE, will take the stage to explore the capital market’s perspective and the future of care services. We hope for your interest and support.
■ Event: 2026 fn Senior Industry Conference
■ Date and time: November 12 (Thursday), 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
■ Venue: International Conference Room, Bankers’ Hall, Jung-gu, Seoul (2F)
■ Organizer: Financial News
■ Supported by: Presidential Committee on Population Strategy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Employment and Labor, Financial Services Commission, Financial Supervisory Service
■ Inquiries: Secretariat, (02) 6965-0022, [email protected].
[email protected] Park So-hyun Reporter