Scholars project that South Korea's potential growth rate may dip below two percent from next year due to the shrinking working age population.

This is according to professors Joo Sang-yong and Hyun Jun-seog at Konkuk University who spoke at an academic forum on Thursday which addressed exploring new paradigms for the Korean economy.

The professors predicted that negative impacts on economic growth caused by demographic changes such as the smaller working age population and aging society will begin to take a serious toll from 2020.

They forecast Korea's potential growth rate will drop to as low as one-point-98 percent next year and that the rate will continue in the one percent range until 2028.

Statistics Korea projected earlier that the working age population will decrease by an annual average of 325-thousand between 2020 and 2029.

In order to maintain economic growth in the two percent range, the professors said the labor force participation rate should be drastically raised and that labor productivity should be increased continuously.  

They said it's important to prevent a plunge in the growth rate via an expansionary fiscal policy and also improving the distribution and implementation of structural reform measures.