South Korea To Create New Ministry To Tackle Falling Birth Rates

South Korea's birth rate fell to a record low last year despite having poured billions of dollars into efforts to encourage women to have more children.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that he wants to create a new ministry to address the country's low birthrate - the world's lowest, with the country facing a looming demographic crisis.

"I ask the parliament's cooperation to revise government organisation to set up the Ministry of Low Birth Rate Counter Planning," he said in a live address to the nation. 

South Korea's birth rate fell to a record low last year, official data shows, despite having poured billions of dollars into efforts to encourage women to have more children and maintain population stability.