The vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy said Wednesday that the government should explore immigration policies to solve the population crisis.

Speaking at the seventh Joint Forum on Population Strategy in Seoul, Joo Hyung-hwan said it’s time to seek solutions from a comprehensive perspective, which means not just increasing the birth rate but also increasing the inflow of foreigners.

Joo stressed that South Korea has already become a multicultural society, with the proportion of foreign residents exceeding five percent of the total population.
 
However, he said the country has not yet created an environment conducive to attracting skilled foreign workers, pointing out that South Korea ranks 25th of the 38 OECD member countries in this respect.

He said immigration policy to address the population crisis caused by low birth rates and the aging society should no longer be a choice but a “core policy tool.”

To address the crisis, he proposed five key tasks: attracting talent for advanced industries, attracting foreign youth and connecting with local communities, addressing the demand for essential workers, expanding and innovating social integration policies, and establishing an interagency governance system.