Daegu City Council Urges in 5-Minute Speech: "Practical Countermeasures Needed"
Daegu City Council member Lee Seongo (People Power Party, Suseong District 3) will urge the establishment of a dedicated department for low birthrate policies in Daegu and the preparation of support measures for Daegu-style low birthrate response during a five-minute free speech at the 309th regular session scheduled for the 24th.
Last year, Korea's total fertility rate in the fourth quarter was 0.65, marking an all-time low. Daegu is also facing a serious low birthrate trend, with the "September 2023 Population Trends" showing Daegu's total fertility rate at 0.7, the fifth lowest among the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide.
Lee Seongo, a Daegu City Council member, believes Daegu must recognize the current situation as a serious national crisis and will emphasize the urgent need for comprehensive efforts by the city, including Daegu-style low birthrate support measures.
Previously, at the 2024 Low Birthrate and Aging Society Committee meeting held on the 19th, President Yoon Sukyeol declared a "national population emergency" and announced the establishment of a Population Strategy Planning Department to oversee mid- to long-term population strategies, declaring an all-out nationwide response to overcome the low birthrate issue.
Lee Seongo stated, "Daegu must proactively reflect the government's policy direction by establishing a dedicated department under the Deputy Mayor to oversee all departments, and fundamentally review all childbirth policies from scratch. Now is the time to overturn the current crisis and show Daegu as a 'game changer' with systematic and realistic low birthrate response policies, rather than just 'plans for the sake of plans.'"
He added, "I believe the push for the Daegu-Gyeongbuk integration is also fundamentally aimed at solving the low birthrate and population outflow to the Seoul metropolitan area. I hope Daegu will lay the foundation for successful Daegu-Gyeongbuk integration by establishing a practical, concrete, and organically connected basic plan for Daegu-style low birthrate policies."
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