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South Korean City Plays Cupid, Organizes Blind Dates To Boost Birthrate
Mass blind dates are common in South Korea but there's something unusual about this event in Asan: the city government is the one playing Cupid.
"Matchmaking is no longer a personal business, it's the duty of the nation," Yu Yang-Sun, a municipal official organising the recent event, told AFP in the city 90 km (57 miles) south of Seoul.
"Newborn babies are hardly seen here these days. If the young grow older unmarried and produce no kids, the nation will no longer have the basic human resources to sustain itself."
Asan's birthrate is 1.08, much lower even than the low national average, according to Ko Bun-Ja, one of Yu's deputies who is helping organise the event.
"Well, folks, give birth to a baby and become a patriot like me," Noh Gyeong-Seon, who is seven months' pregnant, told the group as she proudly displayed her bump.
Some blushed, others giggled.
Five hours later, 12 of the 40 had decided to keep dating -- much to the delight of city officials hearing the distant chime of wedding bells.
After years of promoting family planning in the crowded nation of 48.6 million, South Korea in recent years has become increasingly alarmed at the prospect of an ageing society -- with a huge pensions bill and too few workers to sustain economic growth.
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