SEOUL Feb 9 — A provincial government in South Korea has apologised after a mayor suggested importing young women from Southeast Asia to boost the nation’s birth rate.

Jindo County Mayor Kim Hee-soo said last week that rural hamlets could address shrinking populations by pairing bachelors with women enticed from Vietnam or Sri Lanka.

“We should import young women from Vietnam or Sri Lanka so that young men in rural areas can marry them,” he told a town hall meeting.

The remarks were condemned in local media and triggered a diplomatic backlash, reportedly drawing an official complaint from the Vietnamese embassy in Seoul.

The South Jeolla provincial government, which oversees Kim’s county, sought to dampen the brewing controversy over the weekend.

“We deeply apologise for the inappropriate remark made by the Jindo mayor, which has caused deep pain to Vietnamese people and to women,” a spokesperson said on Saturday.

The word “import” used in Kim’s remark “violates human dignity and objectifies women”, the spokesperson said, adding that it could never be “justified under any circumstances”.

Kim also apologised, conceding he had “used the inappropriate word”.

“Amid the severe labour shortages facing rural and fishing communities, the intention was to discuss institutional measures for supporting marriage migration,” he said in a statement earlier last week.

South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and has poured billions of dollars into efforts to encourage women to have more children and maintain population stability.

Some projections estimate that at current rates, the population will nearly halve to 26.8 million people by the end of the century. — AFP