Reversing the decline in population in Korea is going to take radical, even revolutionary steps. I have one to propose. It is that the "gwaoe" system, the after-school "hagwon" or cram school system be incorporated into the Ministry of Education and made part of "free education" in Korea.
When you ask people in their 20s and 30s why they are not getting married and why they are not having children, the answer always involves worries over the costs of raising, meaning educating, children. But if the costs were taken over by the government — an extension of the public school system — much of the worry over raising children would be eliminated.
The childbirth situation in Korea also requires breaking away from the system of "have only two children and raise them well" — that slogan has taken over in Korea such that most couples have only one or two children. Couples now will need to have four, five or six children to reverse the downward slide Korea is now on. Korea needs to return to the days of the "daegajok" — the big family.
When I first came to Korea in 1965, the large family was the ideal, but in the 1970s, in order to develop economically, the government initiated its brainwashing of the population to thinking they should only have "only two and raise them well." It's brainwashing, pure and simple. And it's been very effective. A good friend of mine has eight children, and at the market or anywhere when the mom was out with five or six of them, people would say it's good of her to help watch the neighbor's kids. She reported that when she said they were all hers, she would be scolded, by strangers, for overpopulating the country and threatening the well-being of all around her. If that's not brainwashing, what is?
Another way to look at the issue is to look at the educational standard in underdeveloped countries compared to developed countries. When I first came to Korea, it was underdeveloped, and people had to pay tuition for middle school and high school. Then, Korea developed to where middle school was free, but one had to pay for high school. Now Korea is a developed country, and high school is free. This schedule of development says that a country has overcome the rich-poor divide — it's no longer only the rich that can afford school. But if the issue is the rich-poor divide, with Korea's emphasis on extracurricular tutoring, the hagwon system, then Korea is still an underdeveloped country — only the rich enjoy full educational opportunities, and the poor do not.
Therefore, in Korea, the claim of "developed country" status is artificial because full schooling opportunities are not available to all, only to the well-off. For Korea to truly be a "developed" country, it should provide an all-important tutoring system for everyone. This is not an outrageous proposal. Look at many European countries that even provide full educational opportunities at the college level.
But here, the issue is not just education, it's population growth. Korea's current total fertility rate is at 0.65. A rate of 2.1 is required for a population to maintain a replacement rate. Korea's population decline means an income crisis for maintaining older people's retirement. It means a decline in military service. ㅇraftees once provided an army of 1 million soldiers — now it is 400,000 and dropping. And the housing market will crash. Those who say the population decline is a good thing have not looked at the impact it will have on standards of living, national security and social issues. For example, if Korea decides to import laborers — like they are doing now — do they offer them citizenship? Opening the country to immigration provides a whole new set of problems for a unitary culture like that of Korea.
To increase the birthrate will require deeply radical, even revolutionary kinds of policies. The government has begun talking about a 100 million won bonus for each child born. That supposedly will cover the costs of raising the child. That's a reasonable option. That amount of money is probably equal to my proposal of making extracurricular studies free for all students. My proposal also includes breaking down the rich-poor divide — opening educational opportunities for all.
In addition, opening the "gwaoe" system can include revamping it to help develop a more creative, healthier student. There can be more offerings in the arts and music, and definitely more opportunities for sports and athletic development. The goal would be not just a well-educated bookworm but rather a healthy, well-rounded student.
I would call this proposal the "mangnae" or last-child proposal. Mangnae means the last child, the baby sister or the baby brother. But the word is only used for a third, fourth, fifth or sixth child — not the second child. The second child is the "dulche," the second child. You only use the word mangnae when there are three or more children. In Korea today, there are no mangnae because of the successful brainwashing and implementation of the two-child policy. Korea will only get itself out of its population slow-motion suicide, by finding a way to find mangnae once again.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is a professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
To rescue Korea's declining population
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27.05.2024
Reversing the decline in population in Korea is going to take radical, even revolutionary steps. I have one to propose. It is that the "gwaoe" system, the after-school "hagwon" or cram school system be incorporated into the Ministry of Education and made part of "free education" in Korea.
When you ask people in their 20s and 30s why they are not getting married and why they are not having children, the answer always involves worries over the costs of raising, meaning educating, children. But if the costs were taken over by the government — an extension of the public school system — much of the worry over raising children would be eliminated.
The childbirth situation in Korea also requires breaking away from the system of "have only two children and raise them well" — that slogan has taken over in Korea such that most couples have only one or two children. Couples now will need to have four, five or six children to reverse the downward slide Korea is now on. Korea needs to return to the days of the "daegajok" — the big family.
When I first came to Korea in 1965, the large family was the ideal, but in the 1970s, in order to develop economically, the government initiated its brainwashing of the population to thinking they should only have "only two and raise them well." It's brainwashing, pure and........
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