South Korea Can't Get Old Folks to Spend Their Savings

The aging population is catching up with Korea

Elderly men sit on benches at Tapgol Park in the Jongro-gu area of Seoul, South Korea.

Woohae Cho/Bloomberg
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South Koreans are getting older and spending less, making it more difficult for the central bank to stoke spending and price gains to keep the nation's tiger economy powering along.

Cho Woang Lae, a retired engineer living in Seoul, is like many of the 7.6 million South Koreans who are 60 or over and see the Bank of Korea's recent interest-rate cuts as harmful rather than helpful.