Lee calls for restructuring social system to meet needs of changing population structure

SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday called for restructuring South Korea's social system to reflect rapid changes in demographics, stressing the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) provides an opportunity to redesign the industrial, employment, education and other sectors.

The president made the call during a meeting of the presidential committee on population strategy, attended by government ministers and dozens of citizens and aimed at helping design the country's population policies.

South Korea has been grappling with a fast aging population, with people aged 65 and older already accounting for more than 21 percent of the total population, making the country a "super aged society," where over 20 percent of its population are aged 65 years or more.

Lee called for policies to facilitate "qualitative," as well as "quantitative," population growth, saying the country needs "a major turnaround" in its population policies.

"This means, South Korea's entire social and economic systems should be redesigned from scratch in accordance with population changes," the president said, citing labor, welfare, employment, housing and childcare as sectors that require policy improvements in line with population changes.

The president pointed out that AI-induced innovation, in particular, marks an opportunity to restructure the social system, including employment, education, and elderly care and childcare.

Besides population aging and low birth rates, the president cited growth in the immigrant population and the emergence of "various forms of family structures" as new demographic trends, stressing that the key priority would be to "make a country in which all people can enjoy happy lives throughout their life cycles."

"The clue to resolving population issues would be found only when (people) have hope that they and their families can grow together and be happy together, no matter where they live or with whom they live," the president noted.

pbr@yna.co.kr
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