Presidential Office "Considering Low Birthrate Committee Meeting in Mid-March... Yoon to Preside Personally"

Direct and Indirect Measures to Stop Population Decline Expected to Be Announced
'Childcare Remote Work' Also Discussed

The Presidential Office stated on the 26th, "Due to recent widespread interest, we are considering moving up the Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee meeting to around mid-March."

At a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the same day, the spokesperson said, "We had originally planned to hold the meeting between late March and mid-April," adding this information.

The spokesperson added, "The President will preside over the meeting as the chairman."

President Yoon received a report on the total fertility rate, which fell to a historic low and the lowest in the world at 0.78 (provisional results of 2022 birth and death statistics), late in the afternoon on the 22nd, and instructed, "All related ministries should come together around the Low Fertility Committee to prepare comprehensive measures."

At that time, President Yoon emphasized, "The government is responsible for every process of having and raising children," and personally urged the Low Fertility Committee to prepare meticulous coordinated measures.

Although President Yoon has discussed low fertility issues at Cabinet meetings before, he has never directly presided over the committee meetings. Given that the golden time for fertility rates has passed and the population is rapidly declining, President Yoon, as chairman of the Low Fertility Committee, intends to take the lead in fertility rate boosting measures.

A senior official of the Low Fertility Committee explained, "(President Yoon) instructed the vice chairman to thoroughly review the population policy directions to be announced at the upcoming main committee meeting."

At the next meeting presided over by President Yoon, not only welfare policies aimed at simply increasing the fertility rate but also macro-level measures related to housing, industry, labor, and immigration to halt or reverse the population decline will be discussed.

Since its launch in 2005, the Low Fertility Committee has seen the government pour in 280 trillion won over 16 years until 2021, but due to shortsighted support policies, the fertility rate remains the lowest, and the population is decreasing.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon is expected to additionally deliver messages on response policies to mitigate the socio-economic ripple effects of population decline and super-aging, the advancement of welfare systems, and balanced development between the metropolitan area and local regions, focusing on social sustainability.

Effective measures such as "guaranteeing childcare telecommuting," which were adopted as pledges through public proposals during President Yoon's presidential candidacy, are also being discussed within the Presidential Office.