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| ▲ You Hye-mi, the newly appointed senior presidential secretary for low birth rate issues, speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office in Seoul on July 25, 2024. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) Yoon-low birth secretary
(LEAD) Yoon names Hanyang Univ. professor as senior secretary for low birth rate issues
(ATTN: UPDATES with announcement of appointment; CHANGES photo)
SEOUL, July 25 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday named an economics professor at Hanyang University as the inaugural senior presidential secretary for low birth rate issues.
You Hye-mi, a 46-year-old "working mom" with twins in elementary school, was chosen to fill the position newly established at Yoon's orders in May.
"We expect (You) to come up with more fundamental and groundbreaking solutions to overcome the low birth rate based on the expertise and experience she has built until now and the fresh perspective of a senior secretary in her 40s," presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk said while announcing her appointment at a press briefing.
Speaking at the same briefing, You said she will not only devise short-term policies but also "boldly announce and propose tasks that require structural changes in the economy and society" in order to raise the birth rate.
Yoon has said South Korea is in a "demographic national emergency" due to its declining population.
South Korea's total fertility rate, or the average number of children expected to be born to a woman over her lifetime, reached a record low of 0.72 in 2023.
The figure is far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration.
You will be the only woman among senior presidential secretaries and other senior presidential aides.
The presidential office initially vetted multiple candidates regardless of gender but later focused on choosing a professional "working mom" in line with Yoon's wish to have a woman as the inaugural senior secretary for low birth rate issues.
Meanwhile, Yoon also named Ambassador to Indonesia Lee Sang-deok as the new chief of the Overseas Koreans Agency on Thursday.
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