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130 years ago, people on this land imagined a new world grounded in the Donghak teaching—“serve people as if they were heaven” (literally 事人如天). Confronted today by the immense challenge of a super-aged society, that teaching poses a sharp question: are we truly living in an era that cares for one another as if we were serving the heavens?
Welfare is not mere charity. To realize the modern meaning of this principle, we must ensure that those who need care can preserve their dignity and spend their final days peacefully in their homes and communities. I have proposed a hybrid integrated-care model in which artificial intelligence (AI) provides the wings and human love supplies the roots.
We must shed the bias that technology is cold. Advanced tools—such as agentic AI and vibe-coding—can act as the wings of “digital filial piety,” keeping watch over care blind spots 24 hours a day. Technologies that detect subtle movements of older adults living alone, monitor cognitive health, and offer conversational companionship extend the reach of caregiving and weave a dense safety net that treats everyone with dignity.
But wings alone cannot lift us. The technology’s wings must be rooted in deep compassion and human care. When local communities uphold a shared responsibility to look after one another, AI acquires real warmth. Only in this hybrid space—where technology secures efficiency and love sustains value—can true integrated care take shape.
We should now set a global standard for “K-welfare.” Our integrated-care model, which marries the distinctly Korean humanist spirit of Donghak’s principle of serving people as if they were heaven with cutting-edge AI, can offer a creative solution to the worldwide problems of aging and social isolation.
Care should no longer depend on individual sacrifice; it must become a practice of social solidarity. We should build a country where every citizen can die with dignity by their own window, warmed by the spring sun. Gyeonggi Province’s integrated-care policy—where technology and love are fully combined—points the way to the K-welfare future we must pursue.
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