South Korean official expelled for suggesting ‘importing women’ to boost birth rate

quote:

---

A South Korean official was expelled from his political party for suggesting the country “import” Vietnamese and Sri Lankan women to boost the declining birth rate.

Kim Hee Soo, the governor of the southern Jindo county in South Jeolla province, was facing an uproar after his televised remarks last week triggered a diplomatic protest from Vietnam. Mr Kim was addressing a town hall meeting when he spoke about measures to address the country’s declining birth rate.

He said South Korea could “import young unmarried women” from places like Sri Lanka or Vietnam to be married off to “young men in rural areas".

---

quote:

---

South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and has injected billions of dollars into measures to boost its declining birth rate and maintain population stability. Some projections estimate that the country’s 50 million population could drop by half in 60 years.

---