South Korea, battling the effects of an aging population, plans to spend more than US$20 million over the next 10 years to discover the secrets of staying young.
The investment is aimed at keeping older people economically active for a longer period to compensate for the country's rock-bottom birth rate.
By 2016, the Ministry of Science and Technology plans to inject 19.8 billion won (US$20.6 million) to fund local scientists developing age-defying technologies.
"The money -- 2.2 billion won every year -- is not enough to stop a declining population but useful to make our society healthy," said Cho Seong-chan, a director of the ministry's technology department.
"This will also help South Korea become a superpower in the biotech industry, which is regarded as our future source to earn foreign currency," he said.
The project reflects prevailing worries about a declining population after South Korea officially became an aging society in 2000, when the ratio of the population aged 65 or older exceeded seven percent.
Falling birth rates are a global trend but the phenomenon is especially marked in South Korea -- sparking fears that economic productivity will be seriously threatened by a rapidly aging population.
"Our society is aging at the fastest speed in the world," said Moon Hyung-pyo, a researcher at the state-run Korea Development Institute.
People aged 65 or above will account for 37 percent of the population in 2050, causing a huge fiscal deficit as well as a social headache, he said.
Higher spending on welfare and health care is not a perfect remedy, Moon said, suggesting South Korea should boost its birth rate and allow old people to remain healthier and work longer.
Otherwise the economic growth rate could drop from a current estimate of 4.7 percent to 2.91 percent in 2020 and 1.6 percent in 2030, he said.
"We may see an uncontrollable situation unless the government takes effective and fundamental steps," he added.
South Korea is a latecomer in the biotechnology industry. Its scientific community was jolted by a scandal involving disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-suk, who is standing trial over his bogus stem cell research.
Scientists say the scandal has not dampened their push to develop anti-aging technologies.
"Hwang is just an isolated case. There are many, many other brilliant Korean scientists who can rival top international researchers in making biotechnology products," said Kim Tae-Kook, a professor at the state-run Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
He claimed in June to have created a newly synthesized small molecule, which enables human cells to avoid aging and make cells younger.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in