Private Members of the Low Birthrate and Aging Society Committee Launched... Meeting Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The Presidential Committee on Low Fertility and Aging Society announced that it held a private committee members' meeting on the 12th to appoint the first private members under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and discuss the future direction of South Korea's population policy.

The newly appointed 8th committee consists of 15 experts from various fields as the first private members under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. The committee will be responsible for deciding the government's population policy direction and discovering new policies.

The government plans to shift the policy direction from the existing population policies focused on low fertility and aging tied to birth rates to future planning that adapts to demographic structural changes and responds to anticipated crises, and accordingly strengthen the committee's status.

The 8th committee is composed of experts from diverse fields such as population policy, youth, child care, age-friendliness, health care, housing, and labor, including Professor Cho Young-tae of Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health, who organized the Population TF in the current government's transition team, and Professor Kim Young-mi of Dongseo University Department of Social Welfare. Professor Kim, an expert in income and care, was appointed as a standing member, recognized as the right person to discover policy tasks tailored to the changing population structure and scale.

Additionally, experts such as Professor Jung Ik-jung of Ewha Womans University, a family policy and child care specialist; Heo Jae-jun, senior research fellow at the Korea Labor Institute, an expert in economics and labor; and Professor Shin Ui-jin of Yonsei University Pediatrics, who supports issues related to the quality of life of youth and children, were included.

Before the appointment ceremony, the 8th private members held their first meeting on the morning of the 12th at the Government Seoul Office State Council Members' Cafeteria, chaired by Vice Chairperson Na Kyung-won, officially starting their activities with a 'private members' meeting.' Twelve of the 8th private members attended the meeting to discuss tasks related to the new government's population policy direction and the committee's operational direction.

Vice Chairperson Na said, "In the face of the population crisis that determines the nation's survival, the role of the newly appointed 8th Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee members is very significant in fulfilling the committee's role as the control tower of population policy," and urged, "Please all join forces to establish a social system that can respond to serious demographic changes and prepare groundbreaking policies to mitigate population changes."