The Seoul Metropolitan Government is pushing to enact an ordinance on loneliness prevention and social connection, which would define loneliness, specify eligible support recipients and outline the city's obligations.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon delivers opening remarks at a policy meeting on "Loneliness-Free Seoul Season 2" held at Seoul City Hall on Friday. [Seoul Metropolitan Government]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon delivers opening remarks at a policy meeting on "Loneliness-Free Seoul Season 2" held at Seoul City Hall on Friday. [Seoul Metropolitan Government]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is moving to enact a dedicated ordinance on loneliness prevention.

The city is working toward introducing the "Ordinance on Loneliness Prevention and Promotion of Social Connection," with a target of submitting the bill in the first half of next year. Officials said the existing ordinance on preventing solitary deaths and expanding safety nets for socially isolated households falls short when it comes to policy support at the earlier stage of loneliness itself.

The new ordinance is expected to include provisions defining loneliness, spelling out the city's obligations in addressing it and establishing whether a related action plan must be drawn up. It is also expected to cover surveys on the causes of loneliness and its associated health effects, as well as rules on who qualifies for support.

"Enacting the ordinance will broaden the scope of policy support and sharpen the clarity of policy programs," a Seoul city official said. "We also expect it to provide a stronger legal foundation for the city's loneliness-related projects."

Seoul became the first local government in the country to establish a dedicated Care and Solitude Policy Bureau in July 2024, and launched its comprehensive loneliness and social isolation strategy — "Loneliness-Free Seoul" — that October. A 24-hour telephone counseling service has logged a cumulative 80,000 consultations, and the city's network of 19 community mental wellness convenience stores has served a cumulative 184,000 visitors. In September, the city opened Seoul Itda Place, a flagship community hub. Mayor Oh has said that "loneliness and isolation are not problems for individuals alone, but challenges society must solve together," pledging to mobilize the city's full resources to build "a happy city where no citizen is left isolated" — managing the continuum from prevention and healing through social reintegration and relapse prevention.

On Friday, Mayor Oh chaired a policy meeting on "Loneliness-Free Seoul Season 2," convened to explore ways to add community-interaction functions to existing spaces and programs. The proposed loneliness-prevention ordinance was also briefed to the mayor for the first time at that meeting.

At the meeting, Oh said that while existing programs — including the community mental wellness convenience stores, the 24-hour counseling line and Seoul Itda Place — "are making a difference in citizens' lives, there is room to improve in creating more opportunities for people to meet, gather and sustain conversations in their everyday lives."


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