South Korea will revise classroom and military recruitment system and offer various incentives for employers keeping employees on payroll beyond their retirement age to meet rapidly thinning and aging population.

The pan-government task force team dealing population policy held a meeting on Wednesday at the government complex in central Seoul and discussed a set of measures addressing demographic changes before formal announcement due this or next month.

The task force team, launched in April, was assigned with 20 policy tasks in four areas – measures to increase working age population, reduce shock from decreasing number of absolute population, deal with rapidly aging population and financing for increased welfare demand. The team first announced measures related to increasing working age population.

“Among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD countries, Korea is the only country with ultra-low birth rate with total fertility rate under 1 [0.98],” deputy prime minister for economy Hong Nam-ki said in the meeting. “The population is also aging at practically the fastest rate in the world, pushing the country towards a super-aged society.”

The government sees the need to change teachers and soldiers’ quota due to slowed youth additions.

It will review its method of training teachers, develop various operation models for consolidated schools, and manage trial projects dealing mixed use of school facilities.

To keep up military resources against sharp fall in draftees, the government plans enlarge strategic assets with the help of science by building up drone and robotics reserves. It may have to scale down replacement soldiers and increase quota for female recruits as well as naturalized Koreans. The government won’t change mandatory conscription system.

The government will expand incentives to boost employment of senior citizens. Starting next year, it will raise support funds for aged employment for those 60 years and over from 270,000 won per person per quarter to 300,000 won, and give out additional funds to businesses that voluntarily re-employ workers that have passed their retirement age.

“In mid- and long-term, we will improve overall system related to hiring young workers and continue to review ways to extend employment of aged population by studying cases from other countries,” Hong said.

By Sohn Il-seon and Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]