Korean family groups demand overhaul of national population plan
Summary
The Federation for Korean Families urged the government to rewrite its first National Population Strategy Basic Plan at a news conference at the National Assembly on Friday. The coalition of 180 civic organizations said the plan risks sidelining families and called for clearer fertility targets, stronger family support and a dedicated body to coordinate family policies. The government unveiled the plan’s main elements on Oct. 14 at a Population Strategy Committee meeting chaired by President Lee Jae Myung.
Key Facts
- The federation said the plan lacks a target for raising the total fertility rate, despite a previously announced goal of reaching 1.0 child per woman by 2030.
- The group said life satisfaction and labor force participation indicators alone cannot show whether people who want to marry and have children face fewer obstacles.
- Its proposals include assessing how budgets affect family life, expanding tax and housing benefits for households with dependents, and compensating family caregivers.
- The Population Strategy Committee has specialist subcommittees for social strategy, economic strategy, coordination and evaluation, and migration.
- The five-year plan replaces the previous framework on low fertility and population aging, which had been drawn up in five-year cycles since 2006.
Hwang In-ja, standing representative of the Federation for Korean Families, calls for revisions to the government’s population strategy plan during a news conference at the National Assembly Communication Hall in Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Federation for Korean Families
A coalition of 180 civic organizations is urging the government to rewrite its first national population strategy, saying the plan risks sidelining families even as Korea confronts persistently low birthrates and mounting demographic challenges.
The Federation for Korean Families made six demands at a news conference, Friday, at the National Assembly, calling for clearer fertility targets, stronger family support and a dedicated body to coordinate policies on marriage, childbirth, child-rearing and caregiving.
The group said the government's first National Population Strategy Basic Plan fails to include a target for raising the total fertility rate, despite a previously announced goal of reaching 1.0 child per woman by 2030.
The federation said indicators such as life satisfaction and labor force participation cannot, by themselves, show whether people who want to marry and have children are facing fewer obstacles.
It called on the government to pair demographic targets with measures addressing housing costs, child-rearing expenses, work-life balance and access to caregiving time, arguing that the goal should be to make family formation more feasible rather than pressure individuals to have children.
Another central demand is the creation of a family policy subcommittee under the Population Strategy Committee, which currently has specialist subcommittees covering social strategy, economic strategy, coordination and evaluation and migration.
“When we checked the organizational chart against the promise to transform population policy, families were not there,” the federation said in its statement.
Its other proposals include assessing the impact of budgets on family life, expanding tax and housing benefits for households with dependents, compensating family caregivers and ensuring legislative debate on changes affecting the definition of family.
The government unveiled the plan's main elements Oct. 14 at the first plenary meeting of the Population Strategy Committee, chaired by President Lee Jae Myung.
The five-year plan replaces the previous framework on low fertility and population aging, which had been drawn up in five-year cycles since 2006.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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