To date, the issue of solitary death has been mostly considered as an issue related to the elderly’s poverty or that should be burdened by communities or an issue of support for which their family members should be responsible. Moreover, there have been continued opinions that solitary death was caused by a specific event or situation in the elderly’s life, a problem of the individual’s introverted disposition, a lack of the will to live isolated from family or a lack of sufficient financial power. In addition, it has been regarded as an inevitable phenomenon in gradually changing Korean society and a kind of a side effect occurring as the people’s lifestyle has gradually been individualized. Yet, it is judged that now, the issue of solitary death of the elderly should be approached focusing on the seniors’ human rights with the topics such as human being as a social being, attitude toward securing human life and maintenance and protection of the right to life apart from a position to approach it as a simple social phenomenon appearing due to some faults of the individual and the society to which he or she belongs.
Thus, this study brought the issue of human rights of the elderly, connected the issue of human dignity and their right to life, viewed the issue of solitary death at the level of securing the right to live like a decent person and the inherent right that should be neither infringed by anyone nor given away to anyone and insisted that actions for it should be prepared.