[Ubose] Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee Remains Silent Despite Birth Rate Recovery

Both the growth rate and the absolute number of births in the first half of this year reached record highs. Although concerns over low fertility have been deep, with some declaring "Korea is doomed," the total fertility rate is expected to return to the 0.9 range for the year for the first time in seven years. While still far below the replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1 needed to maintain the current population size and even below the OECD average of 1.4 (as of 2024), it is significant that young people are beginning to have children again.

Despite this encouraging news, the Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee (Low Fertility Committee), the primary institutional body responsible for addressing the issue, remained silent without any official statement. The committee has a duty to review total fertility rate statistics and propose future directions, yet the absence of an official government stance on the record-breaking birth rate recovery is highly unusual.

Since former CBS Chairman Kim Jin-oh was appointed as vice-chairman at the ministerial level in April, the Low Fertility Committee has shown little presence over the past four months. On the 12th, the committee announced it would strengthen marriage and childbirth support measures in line with the "2026 Tax Reform Plan," but merely compiled existing plans from other ministries without clarifying what role the committee played in the policy decision-making process. This stands in stark contrast to its past leadership in major policies such as revising income requirements for housing loans to ease marriage penalties, introducing short-term parental leave in 1-2 week increments, and expanding benefits for large families at airports and highways, alongside more daily-life-oriented initiatives.

Recent public remarks have also remained at a theoretical level. Vice-Chairman Kim attended the 2026 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Population Policy Forum held on the 24th at the Dalian International Convention Center in China, stating only that "South Korea has laid the foundation for a simultaneous rebound in both total fertility rate and birth numbers after nine years through parallel efforts in policy responses such as work-life balance, caregiving support, housing assistance, and improvements in social-cultural awareness." The government has not publicly disclosed what specific measures or timelines it will implement to further increase the birth rate.

This is why concerns are rising that the committee's presence will remain minimal even after its expansion and reorganization into the Population Strategy Committee next month on the 10th. The Population Strategy Committee is expected to serve as the central command tower for population policy, coordinating population-related budgets with relevant ministries and announcing this year's "First National Population Strategy Basic Plan." A population policy expert noted, "There are countless tasks the Population Strategy Committee could undertake, including youth support, mitigating regional decline, and AI-driven social innovation, yet it remains unclear how detailed these will be in the basic plan. It must not become a passive review and approval body that merely endorses projects brought forward by other ministries."