Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, vice ministers and ranking officials gathered to discuss measures to deal with the impending issue after the number of newborns in South Korea dropped to a new record low last year.

The number of babies born in 2017 reached 357,700, down 11.9 percent, or 48,500, from a year earlier, according to a report by Statistics Korea. The figure marked the lowest number of newborns since the statistics agency started to compile such data in 1970.

Participants at Sunday's meeting agreed that chronically low birthrates, coupled with an aging population, could reduce the size of the workforce and drive up welfare costs, undermining the growth potential of Asia's fourth-largest economy

In order to deal with the issue, the ministry said it will come up with ways to remove the fundamental causes of the drop in births, including the high cost of childrearing and an increasing number of people declining to have children. (Yonhap)