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