President Yoon Suk Yeol has ordered preparations to establish a new office for the senior presidential secretary overseeing issues concerning the country's low birth rate.

Presidential spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung said on Monday that Yoon gave the order while presiding over a meeting with his senior aides.

According to an official at the top office, the need to create a new department was raised as the office of senior presidential secretary for social affairs, which currently oversees the matter, is already overburdened with tasks.

During a press conference last Thursday marking his first two years in office, Yoon announced plans to launch a ministry under a deputy prime minister tasked with drawing up response measures to tackle the low birth rate and aging society.

The preparations for the launch of the ministry are expected to pick up pace as main opposition Democratic Party(DP) floor leader Park Chan-dae welcomed the president's announcement, saying the opposition will review ways to cooperate.