Jung Jaehoon, CEO of Gyeongbuk Happiness Foundation: "Solving Low Birthrate Requires Not Only Economic Support but Also Improving Quality of Life"

Gyeongbuk Province Announces Countermeasures Meeting
“Collaboration with Private Experts”

Gyeongbuk Province has joined forces with experts in the field of low birth rates and is preparing fundamental solutions to overcome the issue through public-private collaboration. Following its leadership in short-term measures such as the “100 Key Tasks for Winning the War Against Low Birth Rates,” the province also aims to take the lead in addressing structural solutions, including easing the concentration in the capital region and educational reform.

On the 5th, Gyeongbuk Province elevated its existing Low Birth Rate and Countermeasure Review Meeting (17th session) to a more advanced format, holding the “Low Birth Rate War Innovation Countermeasure Meeting (18th session)” centered on expert proposals and discussion.

Jaehoon Jung, CEO of Gyeongbuk Happiness Foundation, is presenting solutions to low birth rates at the Gyeongbuk Province Low Birthrate Countermeasure Meeting.

The meeting was attended by Lee Cheolwoo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, the Administrative and Economic Deputy Governors, department heads, as well as heads of local public institutions such as the CEO of Gyeongbuk Happiness Foundation, the President of Gyeongbuk Research Institute, the President of Gyeongbuk Technopark, and the President of Gyeongbuk Women’s Policy Development Institute.

Notably, at the meeting, Jeong Jaehoon, CEO of Gyeongbuk Happiness Foundation and an expert on low birth rates, presented “Gyeongbuk’s Choice to Change Korea.”

In his presentation, Jeong identified “low quality of life” as the main reason people are not having children. He explained that the sum of objective indicators such as economic level and subjective factors like life satisfaction determines quality of life, and the imbalance between these two factors has worsened the low birth rate issue.

For this reason, he analyzed that simple support measures such as financial assistance alone cannot solve the low birth rate problem. Ultimately, he emphasized the need to improve quality of life through a balanced approach to economic support (income, housing, health), work-life balance, and a family-friendly environment.

He also pointed out that policies failing to win the hearts of women are a major factor exacerbating low birth rates. He noted that policies have failed to offer hope in response to the question, “What will the future hold for me and my family if I have a child?”

At the same time, he stressed the need to deliver messages of hope and vision by reforming the skewed social structure that has diminished the effectiveness of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting policies, and by developing strategies to regain women’s trust.

He went on to propose various policy ideas. He stated that population inflow should be promoted through innovative changes such as relocating the headquarters of major corporations to provincial areas and adopting flexible work arrangements like telecommuting, breaking away from the traditional capital region-centered growth and development strategy.

To achieve this, he emphasized the importance of proactively preparing living infrastructure for employees of capital region companies to relocate, suggesting this could be as effective a strategy for population inflow as job creation.

He also made a bold proposal to create a “My Own Small Forest Community Project” to encourage the movement of middle-aged, elderly, and families, sparking a butterfly effect of population movement starting from Gyeongbuk.

Jeong stated, “Korean society is facing a family crisis even before the population crisis. Only when more people accept community and life with happiness can we expect a rebound in the birth rate.”

Governor Lee Cheolwoo emphasized, “So far, we have implemented short-term measures based on field opinions and the efforts of public officials. From now on, we must work with private experts and others to develop structural and fundamental solutions that will save Korea from low birth rates.”

A low birthrate countermeasure meeting of Gyeongbuk Province, hosted by Governor Lee Cheolwoo, is being held.

Going forward, Gyeongbuk Province plans to establish the Low Birth Rate War Innovation Strategy Committee, comprising the province, provincial council, heads of public institutions, and private experts. This C-level consultative body will oversee top-level decision-making, including budget restructuring, policy shifts, announcements of additional measures, and policy evaluation.

In the second half of the year, the province also plans to focus on formulating a response plan to the government’s “Measures to Reverse the Low Birth Rate Trend,” nationalizing Gyeongbuk-led low birth rate countermeasures, developing in-depth strategies for overcoming low birth rates such as making Gyeongbuk more women-friendly, and preparing solutions to economic and social structural problems from a low birth rate response perspective.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.