South Korean official expelled for suggesting ‘importing women’ to boost birth rate

A South Korean official was expelled from his political party for suggesting the country “import” Vietnamese and Sri Lankan women to boost the declining birth rate.

Kim Hee Soo, the governor of the southern Jindo county in South Jeolla province, was facing an uproar after his televised remarks last week triggered a diplomatic protest from Vietnam. Mr Kim was addressing a town hall meeting when he spoke about measures to address the country’s declining birth rate.

He said South Korea could “import young unmarried women” from places like Sri Lanka or Vietnam to be married off to “young men in rural areas".

The Vietnamese embassy in Seoul issued a statement to condemn Mr Kim's remarks, saying that his words were "not simply a matter of expression but a matter of values and attitudes towards migrant women and minority groups". Many people in the country called him out for his comments, deeming them “inappropriate”.

Mr Kim issued an apology, saying he “sincerely bows his head in apology” to the Vietnamese and Sri Lankan people for the use of terms such as “import” that “undermines human dignity”, local media reported.

He said he used “inappropriate language” while attempting to address policy approaches. The South Jeolla Province issued an apology over Mr Kim's "inappropriate remarks", which it said "have caused deep pain to Vietnamese people and to women".

“We will reinforce internal oversight and prevention systems to ensure discriminatory language or conduct does not recur, while reminding public officials of their responsibilities and the impact of public statements,” it added.

Mr Kim belonged to the Democratic Party, which voted unanimously to expel him from his position, a party spokesperson said on Monday.

The town hall meeting was convened to discuss a potential merger of nine cities and counties in the province with Gwangju Metropolitan City. Gwangju is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis.

South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and has injected billions of dollars into measures to boost its declining birth rate and maintain population stability.

Some projections estimate that the country’s 50 million population could drop by half in 60 years.