Korea's demographic crisis: Local towns face extinction

By Yoon Ja-young

With 0.64 babies born per woman, the city of Seoul has the lowest birth rate in the country, and the number of deaths here has already surpassed the number of births. But the population of the capital area is not decreasing, as it continually absorbs more people ― especially young people ― migrating in from other parts of the country. Meanwhile, an increasing number of small towns are now on the verge of "disappearing."

One Seoul resident, identified only by her surname Park, has been working at a small design company in the capital after leaving her hometown of Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, in 2015. In recent decades, countless other young people have made the same decision to leave their smaller regional cities for Seoul. Miryang had more than 250,000 residents in the 1960s. Today, it only has 103,600, with the number decreasing by around 100 people each month.

Life in Seoul is not easy. Park said she doesn't have much money left after paying for rent and other necessities.

"I sometimes think that life would have been easier if I lived with my parents," she said. "But I don't think I can go back to Miryang. Above all, there is nothing I can do there, and I am not talking only about jobs." she said.

This file photo shows the so-called "Innovation City" built in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province. The central government built 10 cities like that to move government agencies and state-run companies out of Seoul and to modernize old towns across the country. But such efforts have failed to stop the population from concentrating in the capital area. Korea Times file

Failure of 'Innovation Cities'

With an influx of people from all over the country, the number of residents in the Seoul metropolitan region ― including Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province ― surpassed 50 percent of the nation's total population for the first time ever last year, even though the region occupies only 11.8 percent of the country's total land. The extremely high concentration of the population in Korea's capital area contrasts with those of the U.K. at 12.5 percent, France at 18.8 percent and Japan at 28 percent.

Other parts of the country, meanwhile, are collapsing. The government recently designated 89 out of the 228 cities, counties and districts around the country as areas facing the risk of "extinction."

The collapse of local towns is also negatively affecting the quality of life in Seoul.

"The contraction of local towns accelerates the population concentration in the capital area, resulting in soaring housing prices and a lack of jobs. It will in turn pull down the birthrate in the capital area, accelerating the population decrease of the country as a whole," said Kim Hyeon-ho, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration.

The administration of former President Roh Moo-hyun tried aggressively to tackle the worsening population imbalance. On top of building Sejong City to relocate central government offices out of the Seoul metropolitan area, it constructed a number of "Innovation Cities" around the country, moving more than 150 state-run enterprises and organizations from the capital area to these new cities.

The plan seemed to work at first, but only briefly. The concentration of people in the capital area has continued, while even relatively bigger regional cities, such as Busan, Daegu and Daejeon, are struggling to slow the decline of their populations. Busan, the country's second-largest city, for instance, had its population peak at 3.88 million in 1995, and it has been decreasing ever since, dropping to 3.36 million this year. Its spot as the country's second biggest city is expected to be taken by Incheon, which is considered part of the Seoul metropolitan area, in a year or two.

Kim Jin-yoo, a professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Transportation at Kyonggi University, said that the "Innovation City" project was better than nothing. However, the old model, in which people were drawn to move only for jobs, isn't working anymore.

"Many people feel there are more things to consider other than jobs when they decide whether to move to different areas. A person will choose where to live based on factors like education, medical services and cultural infrastructure, even if their home is far from their workplace," he said.

The advent of the high-speed train, the KTX, played a role here, Kim noted.

"A wife working in Seoul would not move to Jinju, where her husband's office was relocated to. Rather than transferring their kids to a new school in Jinju, the family would instead decide that maybe dad should come to Seoul on the weekends."

Local towns in regions outside of the capital area lack certain kinds of important infrastructure and amenities. According to a National Assembly Research Service report, general hospitals are on average 2.85 kilometers away from one's home in Seoul, but in South Gyeongsang Province, they are 31.54 kilometers away. Cultural facilities including galleries and museums are on average 2.08 kilometers away in Seoul, while Gangwon Province residents must drive 13.32 kilometers to reach such facilities. A report by the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), titled, "(The) Policy Directions to Relieve the Inter-regional Cultural Disparities," shows that 91.7 percent of rural counties lack cinemas, 77.4 percent have no science museums and 67.9 percent have no art galleries.

The government plans to devote 1 trillion won in funds each year to stop the "extinction" of local towns outside of Seoul. However, a KRIHS survey of 100 experts and policymakers shows 67 percent think the government's policy is "ineffective," while only 5 percent think it has had some effect. Failing to reflect on the reality, incorrect diagnoses of the problem and a focus on short-term achievements were cited as reasons for the policy failure.

"Local politicians are still focusing on SOCs (social overhead capital, or basic hardware) like the construction of airports, ports, industrial complexes and highways, but it is doubtful whether they will be effective. They should instead build infrastructure through which young people can find opportunities, and for this local universities can play an important role," Kim said.

This file photo shows Kyungpook National University in Daegu. Prestigious national universities in the provinces are seeing their enrollments fall as students head to schools in the capital area. Korea Times file

Regional universities hold key to solution

Prestigious national universities in the provinces, which used to be the destination for top students in the region, are also collapsing. According to Pusan National University data submitted to Rep. Kim Byong-wook of the main opposition People Power Party, 75.3 percent of students who were admitted there gave up their spots. In the case of Kyungpook National University in Daegu, 2,973 students dropped out between 2015 and 2019.

"According to the school, 95 percent of dropouts transferred to other colleges. It is a common phenomenon among universities in the provinces as students concentrate in the capital area," Rep. Kim said.

Prof. Kim says that Korea could learn from Sweden's Malmo University, an ICT-focused school that succeeded in attracting young people to the city, which was nearly collapsing after its shipyard shut down in the late 1980s.

"If the government invests 1 trillion won in a university in Busan, for instance, to develop a prestigious ICT school with the best faculty and facilities, while offering scholarships, young people will have fewer reasons to move to Seoul. The government also should provide huge incentives for tech companies to move to the region, so that young people can continue working there."

He pointed out that the current industrial structure of non-capital areas, which is based on traditional manufacturing industries, like shipbuilding and automobile production, isn't attractive for young people with college diplomas. There should be a complete overhaul of the country's industrial structure, and colleges should lead the change.

"Young people should be able to get fancy jobs and work with pride in their hometowns. Why can't they enjoy underground music in Sejong on weekends as they do in Seoul's Hongdae neighborhood? Why doesn't the government offer incentives for performances in the provinces? There should be software changes, not hardware ones like new roads and buildings," he said.