By Kim Se-jeong
The government will set up a control tower for immigration policy, as part of efforts to tackle population decline amid the low birthrate and aging society.
The Presidential Committee on the Ageing Society and Population Policy announced Thursday that this was part of a five-year plan — running until 2020 — it had submitted to the administration.
The body will integrate policies on foreigners and immigration now dealt with by various ministries and agencies.
"The office will be tasked with collecting public opinion about long-term immigration policies and coordinating them with relevant organizations," the committee said.
It has not yet been decided whether the office will be an independent body or when it will open.
The committee also said the government will set up a system to manage immigrants, collecting data about them.
It will study how many immigrants Korea will need to maintain its working population.
There has long been talk about creating such a government body, as the number of immigrants keeps growing.
Many experts have said that immigrants are the solution to the low birthrate and the decreasing working population. It is expected that Korea's population will peak at 52.1 million in 2030 and start decreasing to less than 30 million by 2091 if nothing is done.
The labor and family ministries have encouraged immigration, while the justice ministry has been reluctant because of the possibility for an increase in illegal immigrants.
Besides immigration, the presidential committee also presented a set of measures to boost the birthrate.
For childcare, it said the government will open at least 2,500 additional daycare centers so that more mothers can depend on state-funded daycare services.
College students giving birth to children will be allowed to take leave for up to two years. The state will cover most of the expenses for medical fees from pregnancy to delivery.
It also said that providing more job opportunities for young people would help in increasing the birthrate, as many young adults give up marriage and childbirth amid unemployment or job insecurity.
The government plans to create 370,000 additional jobs through its labor reforms.
With regards to housing, the committee said the government will provide 135,000 apartments for newly-weds. Almost 6,000 of these will be within special living complexes where each will have two rooms or more, and there will be daycare centers.
The government plans to spend 197 trillion won in the next five years to implement these plans, which it hopes will result in raising the birthrate from 1.21 last year to 1.5 by 2020.
The government will set up a control tower for immigration policy, as part of efforts to tackle population decline amid the low birthrate and aging society.
The Presidential Committee on the Ageing Society and Population Policy announced Thursday that this was part of a five-year plan — running until 2020 — it had submitted to the administration.
The body will integrate policies on foreigners and immigration now dealt with by various ministries and agencies.
"The office will be tasked with collecting public opinion about long-term immigration policies and coordinating them with relevant organizations," the committee said.
It has not yet been decided whether the office will be an independent body or when it will open.
The committee also said the government will set up a system to manage immigrants, collecting data about them.
It will study how many immigrants Korea will need to maintain its working population.
There has long been talk about creating such a government body, as the number of immigrants keeps growing.
Many experts have said that immigrants are the solution to the low birthrate and the decreasing working population. It is expected that Korea's population will peak at 52.1 million in 2030 and start decreasing to less than 30 million by 2091 if nothing is done.
The labor and family ministries have encouraged immigration, while the justice ministry has been reluctant because of the possibility for an increase in illegal immigrants.
Besides immigration, the presidential committee also presented a set of measures to boost the birthrate.
For childcare, it said the government will open at least 2,500 additional daycare centers so that more mothers can depend on state-funded daycare services.
College students giving birth to children will be allowed to take leave for up to two years. The state will cover most of the expenses for medical fees from pregnancy to delivery.
It also said that providing more job opportunities for young people would help in increasing the birthrate, as many young adults give up marriage and childbirth amid unemployment or job insecurity.
The government plans to create 370,000 additional jobs through its labor reforms.
With regards to housing, the committee said the government will provide 135,000 apartments for newly-weds. Almost 6,000 of these will be within special living complexes where each will have two rooms or more, and there will be daycare centers.
The government plans to spend 197 trillion won in the next five years to implement these plans, which it hopes will result in raising the birthrate from 1.21 last year to 1.5 by 2020.
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