None of these ideas being proposed will do anything significant to raise the birthrate because they all simply involve throwing money at the problem:

Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung pose for a photograph with children during his campaign in South Gyeongsang on May 14. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]

The rival candidates, Kim and Lee, are seemingly on different paths regarding how to help couples conceive babies, strengthen child care and housing support and provide tax benefits for families with children. 
  
While Lee only stated his promise to strengthen medical services for couples struggling with infertility, Kim suggested more detailed plans: the state health insurance covering costs of freezing sperm and ova and state funding for fertility testing. 
  
Lee stressed “public” support in parenting services to establish a “society where everyone partakes in child care.” 
  
Instead of the current scheme where elementary schools autonomously decide the service period and curriculum, Lee plans to reinforce the central and local governments’ direct responsibility for after-school child care services. 
  
Kim kept his child care-related pledges brief. He promised to expand 24-hour and emergency care facilities and provide one-on-one care for babies and infants. When it comes to housing, Lee presented “public housing for newlyweds” as his key initiative. 
  
Public housing, provided by state authorities, offers leases for 30 to 50 years for low-income families. Currently, a two-person household can apply for public housing if their combined monthly earnings are 5.89 million won or below. 
  
However, as of Tuesday, Lee has not specified how many units will be supplied, nor potential locations. 
  
Kim also promised to supply 100,000 housing units annually, which makes the residents receive state subsidies for their housing expenses. Newlyweds would qualify for three years of support. An addition of a single child will extend the benefit for three more years.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

To raise the birthrate Korea needs couples to marry earlier. Right now Korean women on average get married at 31.6 years of age. By the time women reach 40 they probably do not want to have children so this leaves effectively about 8 years to have kids. Then you throw in that many women now work and manage careers plus the high costs of raising kids that is why there is a low birthrate.

Besides reducing costs there needs to be a cultural change in South Korea for couples to marry earlier which would conflict with women pursuing careers early in life before marriage and having kids. As long as this remains the cultural norm Korea will continue to have a low birthrate.

Lee tries to make the point that if there was election fraud how did Yoon win the last Presidential election? The argument from the Korean right is that election fraud occurred in the follow on Korean National Assembly elections because Yoon won the Presidency. This fraud allowed the Korean left to impeach government officials at will to stop Yoon’s agenda which ultimately led to Yoon’s failed martial law attempt:

Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday hit out at former President Yoon Suk Yeol for attending the screening of a documentary film on alleged election fraud. 

Yoon, who was ousted over his failed martial law bid and is standing criminal trial on insurrection charges, has claimed that allegations of election fraud were one of the reasons why he declared the martial law decree. 

Yoon, who left the conservative People Power Party (PPP) last week, made the first public appearance since his ouster on April 4, excluding his appearances at the insurrection trial, with the presidential election less than two weeks away. 

“Did he not win his own election through that system?” Lee told reporters during a campaign rally in Incheon, questioning the logic behind claiming election fraud.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully this effort to arrest people reporting fake news isn’t just against conservative media outlets:

Police on Tuesday applied for an arrest warrant for an internet media reporter over a controversial report alleging that 99 Chinese spies were apprehended at a National Election Commission (NEC) facility during former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.

The reporter, whose identity is withheld, is accused of obstructing the NEC’s official duties by publishing a false article, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

The January 16 article claimed that the 99 Chinese nationals captured during a South Korean-U.S. joint military operation were transported to a U.S. base in Japan’s Okinawa and confessed to all charges of election interference during the interrogation process.

The NEC rejected the claim as “clearly false” and filed a police complaint against the media.

The police said they will continue to strictly investigate similar online fake news articles.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Bill Clinton was touring the sites in downtown Seoul and what I found of interest is who I did not see with him, which is Hillary Clinton:

Photos and videos of former U.S. President Bill Clinton apparently sightseeing in central Seoul have been shared online, raising speculation over the nature of seemingly his first visit to South Korea in decades. 

The posts, shared on social media and online communities, showed the former U.S. president reportedly visiting the Gwanghwamun and Insadong areas, popular tourist destinations in the South Korean capital, on Sunday. 

Some posts showed Clinton taking photos with locals and exchanging conversation. 

During his presidency, Clinton visited South Korea in November 1998 for a summit with then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The USFK commander makes it sound like that US war planners should consider using US troops on the peninsula for defending against more than just North Korea:

The top U.S. commander in South Korea likened the peninsula’s strategic location in the Indo-Pacific to a “fixed aircraft carrier floating in the water” near China, during a keynote address Thursday in Hawaii. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, who leads U.S. Forces Korea, delivered remarks at the Army’s Land Forces Pacific Symposium in Waikiki Beach, urging attendees to rethink the significance of land-based power in the region.

“What immediately stood out to me as I looked at the map was the position of the Korean Peninsula and the fact that it’s on the Asian continent, has a sizable U.S. force posture, is inside the first island chain, and is the closest allied presence to Beijing,” he said. Brunson added: “At night, from a satellite image, [South Korea] looks like an island or like a fixed aircraft carrier floating in the water between Japan and mainland China.” He emphasized the need for military strategists to go beyond conventional north-oriented map views and consider regional geography when assessing strategic positioning.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but this sounds a lot like the strategic flexibility strategy that South Korea has been concerned about.