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Tuesday, 1 September 2026 Reading Room

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South Korea’s highly competitive private education system is being blamed for a sharp decline in the country’s birth rate. According to a report released by the Korea Institute of Population Research, a private education system that emphasizes out-of-school private academies, known as “hagwons”, cram schools and personal tutoring has resulted in a 28 percent decline in the country’s total fertility rate. The institute’s research showed that the more that parents invest in private education, the fewer children they have. The total fertility rate, which is the average number of children a woman would have in her lifetime, stood at 1. 19 in 2020, far below the 2.1 rate considered to be the level needed to maintain a stable population. South Korea’s total fertility rate has been falling steadily over the past 30 years and in 2020 it hit a record low. The low birth rate has been attributed to a combination of factors, including a changing social culture and the rising costs of child-rearing. The report suggested that the country’s competitive education system, which emphasizes private education, discourages people from having children. The report also said that investments in private education are concentrated in areas with high real estate values, which tend to have lower birth rates. The institute recommended that the government take steps to reform the education system and reduce the burden of private education costs on parents. The government has already introduced measures to reduce the role of private academies and encourage public education. However, experts say that more needs to be done to address the problem. “The government needs to take a comprehensive approach to address the issue of low birth rates,” said an expert. “It’s not just about reducing the costs of private education, but also about changing the social culture and values that discourage people from having children.”

·hani.co.kr

Police searched and seized a Coupang logistics center amid allegations of violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act following a forklift-related accident. On the 26th, the police in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, conducted a search and seizure operation at the logistics center of Coupang, an e-commerce company, in Jangyu, Gimhae. The operation was conducted on the center's records of facility management and safety education to investigate allegations that the company neglected to provide safety education and failed to properly manage facilities, leading to the accident on the 17th in which a worker was crushed to death by a forklift. The police plan to question related officials and review relevant data to determine if there were any violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Coupang stated, "We are fully cooperating with the investigation and are actively working to prevent similar accidents from happening again."

·hani.co.kr

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