'No senior zone': South Koreans see red as more businesses turn away old people

The operator of the "Jeombonei" guest house on South Korea's popular tourist island of Jeju has made it a rule not to accept visitors aged over 39, following a growing trend in the hospitality sector that separates potential customers according to when they were born.

In a notice he put up last year on an online booking site, the owner said the decision was "agonising" but inevitable, citing "inconveniences" that arose by mixing young customers with seniors in the small bed and breakfast with three dorm-style rooms and 12 beds in total.

"Young customers like to stay up late, chatting and drinking, while senior customers go to bed early," said the owner, who is in his 30s, and requested anonymity. "Young people and seniors don't like to mingle with different age groups and this creates an awkward mood."

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He dismissed suggestions that he was discriminating against seniors. "It's something like this. Young people like to play football and old people like to play gate ball [similar to croquet]. This is not a matter of discrimination but is related to cultural differences between different generations," he said.

Article 11 of the Korean constitution states that "there shall be no discrimination in political, economic, social or cultural life on account of sex, religion or social status".

Nevertheless, Jeombonei is one of many guest houses - small facilities that often provide customers with dinner parties - in Jeju that only serve customers in their 20s and 30s.

On Parents' Day on May 8 this year, someone shared a photo online of a notice on the glass door of a Jeju cafe that read: "No Senior Zone - no entry for those aged 60 or over", went viral. Another sticker next to it read: "Guide dogs are welcome."

The picture sparked outrage, with one person commenting: "Does this mean the elderly are worse than dogs?"

"Don't forget we all turn 60," another commented, adding that the cafe's notice fuelled hatred of old people, in a nation that traditionally treats seniors with respect.

On the other hand, there were also comments that backed the cafe owner's decision.

Some asserted that many elderly people were ill-mannered and spoke too loudly at cafes and restaurants because they were hard of hearing, causing young customers to avoid such places.

Guest houses, cafes, night clubs and others catering only to young people are often called "No Senior Zones" in South Korea.

Their rise first made headlines in 2019 when a small restaurant in Seoul's southern district of Sillim-dong put up a sign that read: "We politely refuse to serve anyone who is older than 49".

The middle-aged owner with two adult children later justified her move, saying some middle-aged male customers were being rude and harassing her.

Social Welfare Professor Chung Soon-dul at Ewha University in Seoul said that although there were not many businesses openly banning seniors, many cinemas and cafes in major cities were focusing on young people only.

"These places are being operated like virtual no-senior zones," she said.

"It must be noted that old people account for a great number of customers in this county and they will do so all the more as Korea is growing old very fast amid low birth rates," she added.

In sharp contrast to "No Senior Zones", there are hundreds of cafes and restaurants, as well as libraries, designated as "No Kid Zones" that ban children up to age 12.

Lawmaker Yong Hye-in of the splinter progressive Basic Income Party stole the limelight last month when she carried her toddler into the National Assembly and appealed for the abolition of anti-children areas across the nation.

To overcome one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, she told journalists: "We must overhaul the society that rejects children and the elderly."

But her appeal was met with mixed responses.

According to market research firm Hankook Research in 2021, seven out of 10 people believed it was the right of business owners to ban children from their venues.

"I myself am a parent with kids but I have no problem with 'No Kid Zones'," said a popular comment on the country's largest online news portal Naver.

It added that this policy was adopted because of irresponsible parents who let their children mess around in public places and not because of the innocent children themselves.

Hur Joon-soo, a social welfare professor at Seoul's Soongsil University, said having zones banning elderly and children was discriminatory and echoed discrimination against different races, genders and religions.

"The gulf between the old and the young is widening fast as young people wrongfully suspect seniors are hampering their efforts to obtain jobs by refusing to retire early amid a slow economy and job scarcities," Hur said.

This generational divide is deepening as the country's 51 million people are ageing fast and families are being increasingly atomised, diminishing chances of grandchildren spending time with their grandparents and communicating with older generations, he said.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea cited the constitution in 2017 to rule that "No Kid Zones" were illegal, but this ruling has rarely been enforced.

Hur urged the National Assembly to enact a law that would ban age-based discrimination, calling for the government to help expand community spaces and increase chances for different generations to mingle and communicate with one another.

"Koreans are more tolerant than others towards discrimination based on age," he said. But he added that people were all "ageists", to varying degrees.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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