S.Koreans told to make more babies

[Tuffty]

South Korean government workers are being given an unusual instruction - go home and multiply.

At 1900 on Wednesday, officials at the Ministry of Health will turn off all the lights in the building.

They want to encourage staff to go home to their families and, well, make bigger ones. They plan to repeat the experiment every month.

The country has one of the world's lowest birth rates, lower even than neighbouring Japan.

Boosting the number of newborn children is a priority for the government, which is staring into the abyss of a rapidly ageing society, falling levels of manpower and spiralling health care costs.

The Ministry of Health, now sometimes jokingly referred to as the Ministry of Matchmaking, is in charge of spearheading this drive, and it clearly believes its staff should lead by example.

Generous gift vouchers are on offer for officials who have more than one child, and the department organises social gatherings in the hope of fostering love amongst its bureaucrats.

But critics say what is really needed is widescale reform to tackle the burdensome cost of childcare and education that puts many young people off starting a family.

Source

I volunteer for impregnation duties. No sacrifice is too great.

[THUNDERDUCK]

That's East Asia in general. The Koreans and Japanese are becoming an endangered species.

[Tuffty]

I guess it's hard to even find the time to raise a kid, financially and otherwise, considering the work ethic that's ingrained into the society right? The fact they have to turn off all power to the building just to tell their employees to go home seems to indicate a much larger problem.

[zakdl]

I volunteer for impregnation duties. No sacrifice is too great.

I would Gladly sign up for that task too, no questions asked.

[Estrea]

Meh, making babies easy enough. It's raising the little brats that take the shine outta it.

If I were any crazier, I might be radical and suggest that countries should just establish state orphanages and let the state raise 'em. Hey, they want loyal worker bees, breed them themselves!

[kuro808]

A government encouraging their people to make babies hmm, I have an idea, send the Chinese women ousted and mix with the Koreans (okay it may solve some but China also got themselves into a problem too)

TD has probably hit on the point that has been apparent for 20-30 years in that area. 

If it doesn't lead to child support I would join the party.

[kuno_thunder]

Another reason why I love the Kpop culture. 

[Asmodai]

But critics say what is really needed is widescale reform to tackle the burdensome cost of childcare and education that puts many young people off starting a family.

Canada has a really low birthrate for similar reasons. If a student finishes school at 25 with $50,000 of debt, they're not going to be interested in starting a family till they're 30 at least. This is assuming they only did an undergrad, any sort of professional degree and you're looking at mid-30's at least.

The longer you put it off the more difficult it becomes to have a family. If you need two incomes to get buy, it gets even more difficult.

(Of course as long as the youth unemployment remains >30% in most of the world, it doesn't matter what other steps you do.)

[Sev]

Baby making is my specialty. They should hire me.
Ps. I do group rebates too.

[shurastriker]

bann all the tv's and computers, that would help a lot