[Editorial] Rhetoric cannot resolve our population crisis

The measures presented by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Tuesday include eased requirements for housing loans for newly married couples. The ministry wants to provide the loans at the interest rate of 1.65 percent for newlyweds if their combined annual income is less than 85 million won ($65,435). In the past, the ceiling was 70 million.

But the annual pay for salaried workers has increased considerably over the past — by millions of won for junior employees, for instance. As the lifting of the special housing loans for newlyweds to 85 million won stops short of reflecting their increased income, the measure can hardly qualify as “extraordinary measures.”

The measure is the only concrete one among many proposals by the welfare ministry. The ministry also emphasized “sufficient housing supply” for newlyweds. The government plans to provide the benefits to 70 percent of all new couples, up five percent from the past. Many people would wonder if 65 percent of newlyweds really received such benefits in buying or renting a public apartment in the past. Will the five percent increase make a difference?

The ministry’s measures do not include the idea of increasing the payment for parental leave, which is currently fixed at 1.5 million won maximum, despite the demand from population experts. Unless the upper limit is lifted, most couples cannot take a parental leave due to mounting living expenses. The ministry may have skipped the measure as it requires cooperation from other ministries involved.

On Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol presided over a meeting of the presidential Committee on Low Birthrate and Aging Society. It was the first attendance by a head of state in seven years. Past presidents, conservative or liberal, repeatedly mentioned the seriousness of low birthrate, but left the meeting to their subordinates. We welcome President Yoon’s decision to preside over the meeting by himself. As he said in the meeting, we hope his administration devises creative measures to raise the plunging fertility rate through massive investments.

Our ultralow birthrate of 0.78 poses a national crisis. A blind resort to failed policies of the past cannot help the country avoid the population cliff. The government must seriously question why the ideas from the welfare ministry cannot convince population experts as well as ordinary citizens.

The president ordered government officials to first communicate with “people in the field.” The government and the People Power Party promised to draw up “special measures” to address the serious challenge on the population front. But their policies were far from being extraordinary. Policymakers will know better. The government must roll up its sleeves to solve the Gordian knot before it’s too late.