Korea's birthrate problem...solved.

Domestic Laws:

1/ Have one child and receive:

300,000,000won interest free mortgage
All medical expenses 100% paid
All childcare and kindergarten paid up to elementary school
500,000won a month until child is 19

2/ Have two children and receive:

500,000,000won interest free mortgage
All medical expenses 100% paid
All childcare and kindergarten paid up to elementary school
750,000won a month until child is 19

3/ Have three children and receive:

700,000,000won interest free mortgage
All medical expenses 100% paid
All childcare and kindergarten paid up to elementary school
1,000,000won a month until child is 19

All the above available to Koreans and foreigners with the correct visa.

Labor Laws:

Maternity leave MUST be taken by the husband and wife equally.
No exceptions. Employers must guarantee that jobs will be
returned after childcare. THESE LAWS MUST BE ENFORCED

Immigration Laws:

Immigrants can come to Korea to work on various visas and be
able to bring their families. If they stay in Korea for five years they
can get an automatic F-5 naturalisation visa for every member of
the family without a difficult an nearly impossible Korean language
test.

DONE AND DUSTED

From what I have read it appears that Korea is so far behind the curve at present  that they cannot make it up. Regardless of how many kids people start having, it's already game over.

Domestic Laws:

1/ Have one child and receive:

300,000,000won interest free mortgage
All medical expenses 100% paid
All childcare and kindergarten paid up to elementary school
500,000won a month until child is 19

1/ Have two children and receive:

500,000,000won interest free mortgage
All medical expenses 100% paid
All childcare and kindergarten paid up to elementary school
750,000won a month until child is 19

1/ Have three children and receive:

700,000,000won interest free mortgage
All medical expenses 100% paid
All childcare and kindergarten paid up to elementary school
1,000,000won a month until child is 19

All the above available to Koreans and foreigners with the correct visa.

Labor Laws:

Maternity leave MUST be taken by the husband and wife equally.
No exceptions. Employers must guarantee that jobs will be
returned after childcare. THESE LAWS MUST BE ENFORCED

Immigration Laws:

Immigrants can come to Korea to work on various visas and be
able to bring their families. If they stay in Korea for five years they
can get an automatic F-5 naturalisation visa for every member of
the family without a difficult an nearly impossible Korean language
test.

DONE AND DUSTED

Yeah but how will those who have one (or multiple) apartment(s) feel superior when any idiot can now have an apartment by simply procreating?

Who will we be able to look down on if this communist policy comes into place? Who will pay for all this????? Not my taxes!!!

Socialism sucks!!!!*

(*unless it's for me)

Yeah but how will those who have one (or multiple) apartment(s) feel superior when any idiot can now have an apartment by simply procreating?

Who will we be able to look down on if this communist policy comes into place? Who will pay for all this????? Not my taxes!!!

Socialism sucks!!!!*

(*unless it's for me)

You still have to pay for the apartment. It is just interest free.
These policies may sound radical, but they are similar to policies
Europe has had for years. You get what you pay for. This includes
government. If you want less taxes you will have poor government.

Decriminalize marijuana as well, cause you’re smoking something if you think those policies are workable.

If it's interest free who is providing the funds for these interest free mortgages?  Sounds like tax payers are going to be on the hook big time.  Like any country that has become wealthy Korea women don't want to live a life of domestic servitude anymore.  Koreans are going to have to face the facts that they need to change their immigration policies.  And enough of the foolishness trying to attract the global elite.  They won't chose Korea when they have the world at their fingers.  Korea needs to focus on educated but poor countries like India.  Namaste!

If it's interest free who is providing the funds for these interest free mortgages?  Sounds like tax payers are going to be on the hook big time.  Like any country that has become wealthy Korea women don't want to live a life of domestic servitude anymore.  Koreans are going to have to face the facts that they need to change their immigration policies.  And enough of the foolishness trying to attract the global elite.  They won't chose Korea when they have the world at their fingers.  Korea needs to focus on educated but poor countries like India.  Namaste!

My wife and I would have jumped at an interest free mortgage when
we first got married. Add in all the rest and it is a great incentive.

Of course tax payers are going to foot the bill. What is your upper tax
limit to avoid national extinction?

If it's interest free who is providing the funds for these interest free mortgages?  Sounds like tax payers are going to be on the hook big time.  Like any country that has become wealthy Korea women don't want to live a life of domestic servitude anymore.  Koreans are going to have to face the facts that they need to change their immigration policies.  And enough of the foolishness trying to attract the global elite.  They won't chose Korea when they have the world at their fingers.  Korea needs to focus on educated but poor countries like India.  Namaste!

korea has been holding onto "maybe we'll let Indians get the E2 to teach English" card for so long.  If it ever happens,  it would definitely reduce the wages to minimum wage,  and maybe by then the government will legitimize lowing the minimum wage for foreigners so it'll actually be less than minimum wage to teach English here. Right now, a lot of my students are already doing zoom classes with Phillipino women for 5,000 won per 30 minute class. 

My wife and I would have jumped at an interest free mortgage when
we first got married. Add in all the rest and it is a great incentive.

Of course tax payers are going to foot the bill. What is your upper tax
limit to avoid national extinction?

No shit! People would jump on free money. But who is going to fund all that?

And there are government assisted mortgage loans at under 3% or even 2% interest which is peanuts.

No shit! People would jump on free money. But who is going to fund all that?

And there are government assisted mortgage loans at under 3% or even 2% interest which is peanuts.

Good luck getting a mortgage these days. You also need 40-60% down.

Good luck getting a mortgage these days. You also need 40-60% down.

The interest on ''government'' mortgage loans is currently between 2,45% and 3,55%. LTV is 70-80%

Before, it was around 2% or even lower for years. That is essentially free money.

This doesn't solve the problem. The problem is that the average person doesn't want to start a family until their 30s, usually their mid-late 30s. Simple biology says this greatly reduces the chances of kids. You can dangle all the mortgages and houses you want, if someone is 25 and wants to enjoy the world, they aren't going to sign up. They'll just wait until later.

The other big problem is well, frankly, this sounds like OP is thinking about this like a man and not someone who has gone through the experience of having to carry a bowling ball for months on end, having their body radically change, go through the excruciating pain of birth, then deal with how their body feels for months-years after. Childbearing SUCKS. Then we get to child-rearing during the young years and the stress of raising kids. Throwing money at kids isn't the only issue. It's having to take care of them.

NO ONE is solving this problem in the developed world. Why? Because the developed world has all adopted the same fundamental lifestyle. We correctly stopped marrying people off at ridiculously young ages. Good. But then we also added the goal of college on top, then we encourage a dating and playing the game lifestyle and a mentality where one's youth is for exploring, traveling and doing things while you can BEFORE you start a family. Add to that wide access to contraception and abortion, and well, what do you expect? You can throw all the money and apartments in the world at people, but none of that addresses the above.

I mean this is before we get to any questions of budget and actually financing this whole thing. You already have to support retirees (something OP says they should spend more money on) and who knows what other government money programs OP supports in his utopian society. Immigration isn't a solution without jobs. Mass importation of cheap unskilled labor isn't a solution if there aren't appropriate industries for them to work in. You also can't force them to stay. Many will simply move back home if they get money.

From what I have read it appears that Korea is so far behind the curve at present  that they cannot make it up. Regardless of how many kids people start having, it's already game over.

Meh. Populations go through boom and bust cycles. It doesn't mean it's game over.

limit to avoid national extinction?

Dude, that "extinction" is 100s of years away. You seem to be under the impression that it's just a few decades away or something. Not really surprising considering the utterly shallow nature of your proposal.  Also, the fact that you think you've "solved" the problem in 2 paragraphs indicates that you really have not thought this through at all.

OP, what are you going to do if people default on the payments? Or there are unexpected issues with your scheme that cause significant financial or market issues? Or do you think you've adequately safeguarded against those and can predict any potential problems?

OP, it's no surprise no one wanted to loan you money without a significant down payment given your level of "thinking." FFS, would anyone trust OP with $1000 to plan a company dinner or to act as treasurer of their Kayaking club, much less Population Czar?

This is like, the kind of crap Homer Simpson would come up with and congratulate himself for having solved the problem ("DONE and DUSTED. Whaddya think of that Marge?"), while everyone else is trying to tell him what an idiot he is.

Benefits for having kids are already decently generous; for example, the practically free childcare until elementary. It's just the working conditions that make it hard to have two working parents. If you can get into the right fields (academia for me and my wife) where hours are low/flexible, Korea is an absolutely fantastic place to raise young children!

We'll be looking to get a mortgage next year with our two young kids, so those policies sound great!

This doesn't solve the problem. The problem is that the average person doesn't want to start a family until their 30s, usually their mid-late 30s. Simple biology says this greatly reduces the chances of kids. You can dangle all the mortgages and houses you want, if someone is 25 and wants to enjoy the world, they aren't going to sign up. They'll just wait until later.

The other big problem is well, frankly, this sounds like OP is thinking about this like a man and not someone who has gone through the experience of having to carry a bowling ball for months on end, having their body radically change, go through the excruciating pain of birth, then deal with how their body feels for months-years after. Childbearing SUCKS. Then we get to child-rearing during the young years and the stress of raising kids. Throwing money at kids isn't the only issue. It's having to take care of them.

NO ONE is solving this problem in the developed world. Why? Because the developed world has all adopted the same fundamental lifestyle. We correctly stopped marrying people off at ridiculously young ages. Good. But then we also added the goal of college on top, then we encourage a dating and playing the game lifestyle and a mentality where one's youth is for exploring, traveling and doing things while you can BEFORE you start a family. Add to that wide access to contraception and abortion, and well, what do you expect? You can throw all the money and apartments in the world at people, but none of that addresses the above.

I mean this is before we get to any questions of budget and actually financing this whole thing. You already have to support retirees (something OP says they should spend more money on) and who knows what other government money programs OP supports in his utopian society. Immigration isn't a solution without jobs. Mass importation of cheap unskilled labor isn't a solution if there aren't appropriate industries for them to work in. You also can't force them to stay. Many will simply move back home if they get money.

It is true that birthrates are on a decline in most developed countries.
However, it is also true that Korea's birth rate is essentially half of the OECD average and it's been the lowest among them since 2013.

We'll be looking to get a mortgage next year with our two young kids, so those policies sound great!

Yeah, no kidding. My wife and I would have been joined at the hip
if we had had opportunities like that.

It is true that birthrates are on a decline in most developed countries.
However, it is also true that Korea's birth rate is essentially half of the OECD average and it's been the lowest among them since 2013.

And there are certainly some tweaks that can be done to marginally improve it.

However, the fundamental core issues- dating culture, education demands, contraception & abortion, marriage age aren't going anywhere. Those are such big hurdles that they rate even above the cost of raising a child and the physical demands of childbearing.

Money and apartments only address one of those factors (and even then, not fully).

And there are certainly some tweaks that can be done to marginally improve it.

However, the fundamental core issues- dating culture, education demands, contraception & abortion, marriage age aren't going anywhere. Those are such big hurdles that they rate even above the cost of raising a child and the physical demands of childbearing.

Money and apartments only address one of those factors (and even then, not fully).

Yes I think they are all fair points. I'm not sure they rate above cost and physical demands, but they're definitely factors. I've met plenty of Korean people who say that due to work and culture, they just don't get time to meet anyone. It will be interesting to see what a huge demographic of old, single people looks like in 30 years time. Has such a large demographic ever existed in a country before? I suspect a huge amount may continue working, to give their life purpose. That may help the economic issues somewhat.

This is a fascinating, and recent, article detailing the issues at hand with the problematic birth rate in S. Korea. It's much more multi-layered than I thought.

Poignant: "[The Korean government] successfully achieved some of the fastest economic growth in human history and the price has been that there isn't a next generation to inherit it," Stone said.


https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1163341684/south-korea-fertility-rate

This is a fascinating, and recent, article detailing the issues at hand with the problematic birth rate in S. Korea. It's much more multi-layered than I thought.

Poignant: "[The Korean government] successfully achieved some of the fastest economic growth in human history and the price has been that there isn't a next generation to inherit it," Stone said.


https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1163341684/south-korea-fertility-rate

Yes that was a good read, thanks for sharing. I found this quote pretty snappy: '"[The Korean government] successfully discouraged nonmarital fertility, but they've also very successfully discouraged marriage," Stone said.