President Yoon Suk Yeol has created a new post in the top office that will be tasked with responding to the nation’s low birth rate and appointed Professor You Hye-mi of Hanyang University’s College of Economics and Finance to take up the role. 

Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk announced You's appointment during a briefing at the top office on Thursday, highlighting her experience and breadth of knowledge regarding birth rate issues and ways to tackle them.

In particular, Chung pointed to her research on the impact marriage and a working spouse have on wages and how working parents allocate time for parenting.  

You, who is a mother of twins, said she feels a great sense of responsibility in taking up the position of first senior secretary for low birth rate response. 

She vowed to devise short-term measures to slow down the decline in the birth rate and promote a rate rebound while also identifying tasks that would require structural changes in the nation’s economy and society.