Guest Column Appealing for a 'Second Independence Movement' Through Childbirth and Birth Encouragement on March 1st

As we commemorate the 105th anniversary of March 1st, I feel the nation's value even more acutely. Yet looking at the current situation our country faces, the very existence of the nation is in peril with no light ahead. The President must establish the National Population Crisis Response Special Committee urgently and declare a state of national emergency.

A nation is established only when it has citizens, territory, and sovereignty.

Can a nation survive without a population?

Let us first examine what kind of nation the Republic of Korea is.

Korea is currently one of only seven countries in the world with a population exceeding 50 million and per capita national income exceeding $30,000. The other six nations alongside Korea are the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. Korea currently ranks around 10th in the world by GDP scale.

Yet world-renowned scholars are predicting that the Republic of Korea will become the only nation on earth to disappear within 100 years due to population decline from low birth rates—does this even make sense?

Let me cite historical examples of nations that perished due to population decline.

In medieval Europe, when the core population rapidly declined, nations were inevitably destined for collapse, and the current situation appears to be heading in this direction. When the plague reduced Europe's entire population by one-third, national power declined, making Europe vulnerable to Ottoman Turkish invasion. After World War I, France experienced stagnant population growth due to low birth rates, while Germany expanded its military forces through population growth and easily occupied France. If our nation similarly experiences population decline and the proportion of youth decreases, available military forces will shrink, encouraging territorial ambitions from neighboring China and Japan. In a situation of acute confrontation with North Korea, what would happen to national security if military forces were reversed within a short time?

Let me provide one shocking example that no citizen could fail to recognize.

Projecting the future populations of South and North Korea based on current birth rates, in 30 years South Korea will have approximately 20 million people while North Korea will have approximately 25 million people—a 19% increase over the South, resulting in a reversal of population scale.

And let me mention those things for which we rank number one globally. Above all else, the total fertility rate of 0.72 last year makes us unequivocally number one not only in the OECD but in the entire world. Additionally, youth suicide rate and elderly poverty rate are also said to be number one globally. Even more shamefully, as seen in the Itaewon tragedy two years ago, 159 lives of young people in their twenties and thirties perished, causing deep pain to parents and siblings, and the country still faces turmoil over accountability and special legislation. Yet more than 20 young people are committing suicide daily—a reality invisible to many, far more painful than the Itaewon tragedy. And there is an even deeper pain: according to data released by the Korean College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, there are 3,000 to 3,500 abortions daily, meaning over 1 million lives are being lost annually—whose responsibility is this? If abortion alone were managed properly, the term "low birth rate" would be nothing but an echo in empty space.

As population decline and aging overlap, the domestic market shrinks, the supply of productive labor decreases, enterprises abandon domestic investment and relocate overseas, and foreign corporate investment in Korea rapidly contracts, leading to industrial hollowing. This brings increased unemployment, tax revenue accelerating decline, and government spending on welfare needs increasing exponentially, perpetuating a vicious cycle of worsening government finances.

To resolve these grim prospects, a substantial portion of the national budget must be prioritized toward solving the low birth rate problem, yet both the ruling and opposition parties, constrained by narrow vision, remain preoccupied with their own partisan interests, leaving the nation's future uncertain.

Most laughably, reviewing the various proposals the parties have presented as low birth rate solutions, they are nothing more than copies of matters already announced by our Korean Birth Encouragement Association, yet they promote them as if they were groundbreaking policy proposals. I cannot help but smile at such triviality, and I wish to express my anger at these petty actions.

The current political establishment can no longer be expected to provide realistic and rational alternatives to the low birth rate problem. Therefore, the Korean Birth Encouragement Association believes that solving the low birth rate transcends any single administration—it is directly linked to national survival. We strongly demand that a state of national emergency be promptly declared, the existing political establishment be dissolved, and a 'National Population Crisis Response Special Committee' be rapidly organized by patriots to the nation comparable to the 33 national representatives of the March 1st Independence Movement. We demand that experts from all sectors and citizens gather to urgently develop and implement solutions that everyone can understand.

Furthermore, birth-related organizations and agencies scattered across government ministries must be consolidated, a Population Ministry under direct presidential authority should be established, its head should be appointed as a special minister and elevated to vice-premier level to concentrate budget and coordination capabilities, and strong implementation power must be granted. If this proves insufficient, extraordinary measures such as appointing a Population Prime Minister should be considered. The fundamental issue is that personnel make or break all matters. Each administration forms organizations like a squirrel on a wheel—comprising theoretical professors and researchers or inserting parachute appointees—resulting in the same old methods. For example, hospitals with renowned physicians have high reputations and profits, and hospital management thrives. The time has come to discover population specialists and perform surgery on the chronic low birth rate cancer through fundamental diagnosis and treatment. From now on, we must discover and employ population specialists as grassroots population strategists and experts.

Housing prices in our country are far too high relative to income levels, making it difficult for young people to acquire homes through their own efforts. Skyrocketing housing prices cause young people to abandon or hesitate about marriage. To resolve this ruinous real estate inflation, the government should lead initiatives to transform park lands, river lands, and green belts into residential areas to create large-scale housing sites, construct massive public rental housing, shifting the housing concept from investment to residence, and absorb profits from rising housing prices through taxation. Marriage incentive payments should be provided, and youth allowances should be introduced for income stability among young people, with differential payments based on marital status and number of children, achieving the original purpose of the allowance. Regulations should be created to give married people and multi-child parents advantages in employment with state enterprises and public institutions.

A certain corporation provides employees with 100 million won while encouraging marriage and childbirth, and while the company's intentions are good, the company's original purpose should be to promote employment and strengthen competitiveness through cost reduction and productivity improvement. Such extraordinary support for employees becomes a heavy burden on other companies and actually gives wings to labor union activities, effectively granting absolution for excessive union actions or unreasonable demands against companies. How many Korean companies can afford to provide such generous benefits to employees? Moreover, it only exacerbates relative deprivation among workers at other companies. This reflects that the government has merely stood by without establishing fundamental measures. If the government had done its job, why would companies and local governments step forward to provide such enormous sums of 100 million won? We must humbly accept this as a bell of warning to the government.

To reduce private education costs, the entrance examination system must be boldly reformed, and support for science and technology talent must be substantially increased to prevent the brain drain of talented individuals. Yet when I see the current government reducing budgets for science and technology this year while shouting about strengthening national competitiveness, I cannot help but smile at this contradiction. Witnessing such inconsistency, how can parents and students encourage their children to pursue science and technology fields rather than medical school?

For over 30 years, the Korean Birth Encouragement Association has continuously conducted a national salvation movement to rescue the Republic of Korea through a second March 1st movement by inviting prominent figures from all sectors of society to create 33 patriots for the nation, and going forward, we are redoubling our efforts to transform the Republic of Korea into a new advanced and powerful nation.

Now is the time when population increase brings national strength. The population increase of Korea through the baby boom of the 1950s and 1960s was not a disaster at all—those generations were the driving force that rescued the Republic of Korea from poverty and transformed it into a wealthy nation. An urgent paradigm shift is needed: the revolutionary recognition that population increase is not a burden on the nation but a great asset for the future.

Let us first examine what kind of nation the Republic of Korea is.

The Republic of Korea is currently one of only seven nations in the world with a population exceeding 50 million and per capita national income exceeding $30,000. The other six nations alongside Korea are the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. .

According to predictions from major international economic statistics agencies, while India currently ranks fifth after the United States, China, Germany, and Japan in terms of each country's share of global gross national product, forecasts indicate India will soon occupy first or second place globally. Our nation currently ranks around 10th in the world by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) scale. However, due to continued population decline, before long, the proportion of our gross national product in the world will significantly decrease.

Further hesitation will only bring about the extinction of the Republic of Korea. It is late, but not yet too late to give up. At this crossroads between the extinction and revival of the Republic of Korea, the only choice we can make is to prevent low birth rates and achieve continuous population growth, kindling the flame of hope for our people on the Korean Peninsula.

I appeal to all citizens to participate in a national salvation movement for birth encouragement through the following catchphrase to overcome low birth rates:

"Birth encouragement is the second independence movement and Korea's bright future. This is not a dream but the beginning of a new nation-building. Fertile Korea! Happy Korea!"