Population Strategy Committee holds first 2026 public participation forum

115 participants from their 20s to 50s and older discuss education, health, care and jobs

Kim Jin-o (fourth from right), vice chairman of the Population Strategy Committee, takes part in a discussion with participants at the first 2026 Population Policy Public Participation Forum, held Saturday at SC Convention Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. [Population Strategy Committee]
Kim Jin-o (fourth from right), vice chairman of the Population Strategy Committee, takes part in a discussion with participants at the first 2026 Population Policy Public Participation Forum, held Saturday at SC Convention Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. [Population Strategy Committee]

The Population Strategy Committee held the first 2026 Population Policy Public Participation Forum on Saturday at SC Convention Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

The public participation forum, made up of citizens ranging from their 20s to their 50s and older, was established to allow ordinary people to take part directly in population policy discussions and propose policy alternatives.

Participants brought firsthand perspectives from a wide range of life experiences — among them young people living in rural towns, parents raising six children, and individuals simultaneously caring for three children and aging parents.

The forum was designed to generate policy ideas for responding to new demographic shifts — including technological change and population movement — while improving quality of life and ensuring social sustainability. Discussions centered on four areas closely tied to daily life: education, health, care and employment.

Kim Hyun-chul, director of the Institute for Population and Human Capital at Yonsei University, delivered a keynote address titled "Redesigning the Lives of Korea's People," covering the impact of AI in an era of demographic transition and the government's policy response options across the four fields.

The 115 forum participants then split into 14 working groups — three each for education and health, and four each for care and employment — to share and discuss generational experiences and perspectives on demographic change.

In education, discussions covered expanding school and lifelong learning opportunities in the AI era and strengthening digital competencies. The health group addressed prenatal and postnatal care, building healthy social relationships, and using age-tech — technologies and industries tailored to older adults — for health management. Care discussions focused on support for infants, children and the elderly, while the employment group took up youth job-seeking and entrepreneurship, preventing career interruptions, work-life balance, and job support for middle-aged and older workers.

Based on the results of Saturday's forum, the committee plans to develop concrete policy proposals at a second forum scheduled for Nov. 21. The proposals will then go through review by relevant government ministries before being incorporated into policy improvements.

"Demographic change is not a problem confined to any particular generation or sector — it is a challenge that affects all of our lives and society as a whole," said Vice Chairman Kim Jin-o of the Population Strategy Committee. "We will build intergenerational consensus grounded in people's lived experiences and diverse views, address blind spots in policy coverage, and develop practical policy alternatives that citizens can actually feel."


thlee@heraldcorp.com