{"id":114652,"date":"2026-02-09T11:57:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=114652"},"modified":"2026-02-09T11:57:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:57:31","slug":"outrage-as-south-korean-official-suggests-importing-foreign-women-to-boost-birth-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=114652","title":{"rendered":"Outrage as South Korean official suggests \u2018importing\u2019 foreign women to boost birth rate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A South Korean official who suggested the country \u201cimport young women\u201d from \u201cVietnam or Sri Lanka\u201d to boost its birth-rate has been expelled from his party.<\/p>\n

Kim Hee-soo, the head of the southern Jindo County, said the woman could be married off to \u201cyoung men in rural areas\u201d during a town hall last week.<\/p>\n

The suggestion comes as South Korea continues to grapple with the lowest birth-rates in the world, which could see the country\u2019s 50 million-strong population drop by half in 60 years.<\/p>\n

But Kim\u2019s statement, which was televised, did not go down well \u2013 triggering a diplomatic protest from Vietnam, days of public anger and his expulsion from the ruling Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

Attempts by Kim to defuse the outrage with an apology a day after the town hall appear to have failed.<\/p>\n

The town hall had been called to discuss a potential merger between the province where Jindo County is located and a nearby city \u2013 something regions with shrinking populations are looking at for administrative reasons.<\/p>\n

Kim said his comment had been intended to highlight population issues in rural regions but admitted the language he had used was \u201cinappropriate\u201d, local media reported.<\/p>\n

South Jeolla Province also issued a formal apology for Kim\u2019s \u201cinappropriate remarks\u201d, which it said \u201chas caused deep pain to Vietnamese people and to women\u201d, local media reported.<\/p>\n

The Vietnamese Embassy in Seoul had condemned Kim\u2019s remarks, saying in a statement on Facebook that his words were \u201cnot simply a matter of expression but a matter of values and attitudes towards migrant women and minority groups\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka authorities have not publicly addressed the controversy.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Party\u2019s Supreme Council had voted unanimously to expel Kim, a party spokesperson told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, activists for women and migrant rights are reportedly planning to hold a rally in front of Jindo County Office on Tuesday over Kim\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A South Korean official who suggested the country “import young women” from “Vietnam or Sri Lanka” to boost its birth-rate has been expelled from his party.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15635,16624,16625,1910,10,9,3928],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birth-rate","category-boost","category-import","category-international","category-politics","category-popular","category-south-korea"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}