□ President Kyoung-Seon Kim participated as a panelist in the ‘1st Korea-Japan Joint Symposium on Responding to Lowering Birth Rates’, held in Sendai, Japan on August 30, where she presented policy directions for sustaining Korea’s recent recovery in its birth rate and proposed ways to strengthen cooperation between Korea and Japan.

□ During the discussion, President Kim noted that Korea’s birth rate has shown signs of recovery over the past two years and emphasized that “we are now at a critical juncture in consolidating this upward trend.” She stressed the need for policy efforts that can both expand women’s participation in the workforce and support higher birth rates, particularly in response to the decline in the working-age population.

□ To this end, president Kim emphasized that support from businesses for work-family balance is essential, proposing that large corporations and public institutions make more active use of their employee welfare funds to support work-family balance programs at affiliated small and mid-sized companies.

□ She also proposed establishing a framework for sustained private-sector exchanges and research between Korea and Japan on responding to lowering birth rate and on population issues. In particular, she called for designated research institutions, including government-funded research institutes in both countries, to participate in Korea-Japan private-sector exchange bodies and for the two countries to undertake multi-year joint research on low birth rates and demographic challenges.

□ Given that Korea and Japan are among the countries experiencing the most rapid population aging in the world, President Kim also highlighted the need to strengthen cooperation in the Age-Tech sector.

□ As part of this effort, she proposed that Korea and Japan jointly develop standards for Age-Tech products and services aimed at improving older adults’ quality of life and reducing the burden of caregiving. She also suggested holding a joint Korea-Japan Age-Tech Expo where related industries and technologies could be showcased and shared in one place.

□ President Kim further proposed expanding exchanges among young people in Korea and Japan at the private-sector and local-government levels and promoting greater “relational population”. She emphasized that youth exchanges can deepen mutual understanding between the two countries and create new models of cooperation through sustained exchanges between regions and between people.

□ “Low birth rates and population aging are major social challenges that Korea and Japan have in common. Rather than simply sharing our respective experiences and policy approaches, the two countries need to work together to develop solutions,” she said. “To consolidate the recovery in the birth rate and respond effectively to demographic change, we need to strengthen a collaborative framework that brings together businesses, government and civil society.”

□ The First Korea-Japan Joint Symposium on Responding to Lowering Birth Rates was hosted by the chambers of commerce and industry of Korea and Japan. The symposium provided an important opportunity for the two countries to reaffirm that low birth rates and population aging are shared concerns and common challenges, and to underscore the need for continued bilateral cooperation and joint efforts to address them.

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KoPHWA President Kyoung-Seon Kim Calls for Stronger Korea-Japan Cooperation on Low Birth Rates and Aging