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| [00:00.00] | Forget that still unwritten report |
| [00:02.32] | or the backlog of paperwork building up on the desk, |
| [00:05.24] | on this cold and rainy mid-week night |
| [00:07.73] | there can be no excuses to stay late in the office. |
| [00:10.28] | South Korea's Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs |
| [00:13.83] | will be turning off all the lights at 7pm |
| [00:16.94] | in a bid to force staff to go home to their families and, |
| [00:19.80] | well, make bigger ones. |
| [00:21.79] | I t will repeat the experiment once a month. |
| [00:24.21] | The country now has one of the world's lowest birth rates, |
| [00:27.51] | lower even than neighbouring Japan, |
| [00:29.56] | and boosting the number of newborn children |
| [00:31.74] | is a priority for this government, |
| [00:33.60] | staring into the abyss of a rapidly ageing society, |
| [00:36.59] | falling levels of manpower |
| [00:38.64] | and spiralling health care costs. |
| [00:40.57] | The Ministry of Health, |
| [00:42.13] | now sometimes jokingly referred to |
| [00:44.43] | as the "Ministry of Matchmaking", |
| [00:46.17] | is in charge of spearheading |
| [00:47.85] | that drive and it clearly believes |
| [00:49.65] | its staff should lead by example. |
| [00:51.08] | Generous gift vouchers are on offer for officials |
| [00:54.19] | who have more than one child |
| [00:55.63] | and the department organises social gatherings |
| [00:58.61] | in the hope of fostering love amongst its bureaucrats. |
| [01:01.47] | But critics say what is really needed |
| [01:04.27] | is wide-scale reform |
| [01:05.76] | to tackle the burdensome cost of childcare |
| [01:08.19] | and education that puts many young people off |
| [01:11.18] | from starting a family. |
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