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Home >> About IAG >> Governing Body >> Sung-Jae Choi, PhD

Chair, Asia-Oceania Region
Sung-Jae Choi, PhD

Dr. Sung-Jae Choi, Chairperson of the Asia/Oceania Region, International Association of Gerontology is Professor of Social Welfare at Seoul National University, Korea. He earned his Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He served as the President of the Korean Council on Social Welfare Education, the President of the Korean Academy of Social Welfare, and the President of the Korea Gerontological Society. He is currently a member of the editorial boards of the Australasian Journal on Ageing (official journal of the Australian Association on Ageing), Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work (official journal of the Asia-Pacific Association for Social Work Education), Geriatrics and Gerontology International (official English journal of the Japan Geriatrics Society), and Hallym International Journal of Aging (official English journal of the Hallym University Institute of Aging Biotechnology, Korea). He was also the chairperson of the Organizing Committee for the 6th Asia/Oceania Regional Congress of Gerontology held in Seoul Korea in 1999.

Dr. Choi has been widely involved in government policy-making on aging: served as advisor to the Minister of Health and Welfare; member of the Health and Welfare Policy Development Committee and the Four-Social-Insurance Integration Planning Committee under the Prime Minister; he currently serves as a member of the Long-term Care Policy Planning Committee, Ministry of Health and Welfare; a member of the Advisory Committee for Population/Aged Aging Society Task Force Team of the Presidential Office; and Co-Chairperson of the Social Welfare Review Committee, Seoul Metropolitan Government. He has also been actively involved in civil society organizations and movements: he served as chairperson of the Social Welfare Committee, Citizen's Coalition for Economic Justice, and chairperson of the Social Welfare Committee, National Christian Ethical Practice Movement, and currently serves as the president of the Korean Information & Referral Service Center on Aging.

Dr. Choi's major research interests include social policy and services for the elderly, research methods in program evaluation and social welfare administration. His publications include books, research papers, and book chapters. He is co-author of books on Welfare of the Elderly, Social Welfare Administration, etc., and he is also chief editor of several books, Social Problems and Social Welfare, Ageing in Korea, etc. His published papers and book chapters include "The Family and Ageing in Korea: A New Concern and Challenge," in Ageing and Society(1996); "Aging in Korea: Issues and Policies" in Aging in Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Policies and Future Trends, edited by D.R. Phillips (2000), and National Policies on Ageing in Korea in Ageing and Long-term Care: National Policies in the Asia-Pacific edited by D.R. Phillips and A.C. Chan (2002). Recently he has been involved in several research studies on centenarians and the oldest old in Korea.

Selected Publications

  • Choi, Sung-Jae & Suh, Hay-Kyung (Eds.). (1995). Aging in Korea. Seoul: Choongang Chuksung Publishing Co.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae & Nam, Ki-Min. (2000). Social Welfare Administration, 2nd Ed. Seoul: Nanam Publishing Co.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae & Chang, In-Hyub. (2002). Welfare of the Aged, 2nd Ed. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae. (1996). The Family and Aging in Korea. Ageing and Society, 16, 1, 1-25.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae. (1997). Roles of the Social Welfare and the Elderly Market in the U. S. A. Journal of the Korea Gerontological Society, 17, 3, 199-227.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae et al. (2000). A Comparative Study on Long-term Care of Korea and Japan. Journal of Korean Gerontological Society, 23, 3, 139-163.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae. (2000). Aging in Korea: Issues and Policies. In D. R. Phillips (Ed.), Aging in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Policies and Future Trends(pp. 223-242). London: Routledge.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae. (2002). “National Policies on Ageing in Korea.” In Ageing and Long-Term Care: National Policies in the Asia-Pacific(pp. 68-106). Edited by D. R. Phillips and A. C. M. Chan. Singapore: Institutes of Southeast Asian Studies.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae. (2002). An Exploratory Study on Social Psychological Factors Contributing to Longevity: Research on Characteristics of Centenarians in Korea, Japan and Finland. Journal of Korea Gerontological Society, 22, 3, 183-207.

  • Choi, Sung-Jae. (2003). Economic Status, Work, and Retirement. In J. Hendricks & H. S. Yoon (Eds.), Handbook of Asian Aging. Amityville, N.Y.: Baywood Publishing Company (in press).