SEONGNAM, South Korea (Reuters) – 100 South Korean men and women gathered at a hotel near Seoul dressed in their best with name tags hanging on their clothes, hoping to find love amidst the backdrop of Christmas songs. The government’s hope is that they will procreate and help reverse the falling birth rate in a country where marriage and parenthood have lost their appeal.
The gathering was a mass blind-dating event hosted by Seongnam city as part of a wider effort by the local government to boost the declining birth rate. The participants, mostly in their 20s and 30s, initially sat quietly until a relationship coach initiated a rock-paper-scissor game, filling the room with chatter and laughter.
The city went to great lengths to facilitate potential matches, offering red wine, chocolates, games, free make-up services, and even background checks for the participating singles. Lee Yu-mi, a 36-year-old government employee, recounted having to apply three times before securing a spot at the event, highlighting the competition for participation.
After five rounds of events this year, 198 people out of 460 left as “couples,” agreeing to exchange contacts with their pairs, the city reported. Despite this success, the South Korean capital, Seoul, had considered a similar event but shelved the plan due to criticism that it did not address the root causes of declining marriage and low birth rates.
Hwang Da-bin, a participant in a September event, lauded the initiative for saving costs associated with traditional social events or professional dating agencies. He expressed frustration at critics, highlighting the urgency of the demographic crisis and the need for government action.
South Korea’s fertility rate plummeted to a record low of 0.78 last year, marking another grim milestone for the nation with the world’s lowest fertility rate. This is significantly lower than the United States’ rate of 1.66 and Japan’s 1.3 in 2021. The average rate among OECD countries was 1.58 the same year.
Jung Jae-hoon, a professor at the department of social welfare at Seoul Women’s University, dismissed the blind-dating events as ineffective policy intervention for raising birth rates. He argued that direct financial support for pregnancy, child delivery, and parenting would be more effective.
Despite the criticism, thousands have signed up for this year’s blind-dating events organized by Seongnam city. Mayor Shin Sang-jin emphasized the importance of promoting positive views on marriage and outlined the blind-dating events as part of a larger strategy to reverse falling birth rates.
“Low birth rates cannot be resolved with a single policy,” Shin said. “It’s also the city’s job to create the environment for people who want to marry find their partners.”
($1=1,294.35 won)
(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Additional reporting by Minwoo Park and Daewoung Kim; Editing by Josh Smith and Stephen Coates)
