Ukraine’s Deputy Economy Minister Taras Kachka said Ukraine is eager to pursue an agreement, even though the US is not currently among its top trading partners.
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When we came into office in 2022, illegal smoke shops were popping up all around the city. No matter what community you talked to, no matter what borough you visited, New Yorkers were fed up. Illegal smoke and cannabis shops were cutting the line — hurting hard-earned legal cannabis businesses, selling products that target our most vulnerable populations like children, and contributing to the feeling that anything goes on our streets.
Our administration knew it had to stop. We went to Albany to advocate to get the power to shut these illegal businesses down. And in May 2024, we launched “Operation Padlock to Protect” to weed out the bad actors after being given that authority.
One year later, we have turned the tide. Thanks to our efforts, we have closed nearly 1,400 illegal cannabis shops and removed $95 million in illegal products from our streets. But “Operation Padlock to Protect” is not only about protecting our kids from harmful products and keeping our communities safe. It is about making sure that illegal smoke shops do not take away valuable storefront space from legal businesses trying to do it the right way.
We are beginning to unseal these padlocked storefronts so that they can re-open as legal businesses like pizzerias, barber shops, retail stores, and more. I recently visited one of these stores — Salsa Pizza Napoletana — in Brooklyn. The owner, Mike Bancale, told me, “Everything started probably 16 years ago in Italy where me and my best friend, Antonella, met, then decided to move to the States with almost nothing. Salsa [Pizza Napoletana] is the actual dream that came true.”
This small business embodies the spirit of New York City. It’s a vibrant multi-cultural enterprise, with partners from Italy and Latin America. It creates great jobs for the community and serves great food.
But we’re not only shutting down illegal smoke shops; we’re helping support our city’s legal cannabis industry as well. The legal cannabis industry is a budding economic opportunity for New York City, especially for those disproportionately impacted by the ‘War on Drugs.’ Our administration supports those legal entrepreneurs through our Cannabis NYC Loan Fund, which has disbursed over $500,000 to support early-stage cannabis businesses since October 2024. Soon, we will have distributed $2 million in total. With legal cannabis sales last year topping $350 million and over 160 legal dispensaries currently open across the five boroughs, our city’s legal cannabis industry is off to a promising start.
Every day, our administration works hard to make New York City safer, more affordable, and the best place to raise a family. This includes closing illegal smoke shops, driving down crime for five quarters in a row, creating a record number of small businesses, and improving New Yorkers’ quality of life.
As we approach the one-year mark of “Operation Padlock to Protect” and unseal stores across the city, we will continue to enforce the law and make sure that these storefronts re-open as safe, legal businesses of all kinds for families to shop at and enjoy.
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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The United Kingdom, France, and Canada yesterday threatened to take “concrete actions” if Israel “does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid” entering Gaza, according to the countries’ joint statement. The three countries “strongly oppose” the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and find the amount of aid allowed into the territory “wholly inadequate,” the statement added. Victoria Bourne reports for BBC News.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance skipped a potential trip to Israel today due to the expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, according to a senior U.S. source, who added that Vance did not want the trip to suggest that the Trump administration endorses Israel’s latest actions. Vance told reporters “logistics” were the reason why he did not travel to Tel Aviv. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
The first five aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, but they have not reached any communities yet, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said today. The U.N. fears that 14,000 babies will die in the next 48 hours in Gaza if the aid supplies do not reach them, Fletcher added, citing assessments by “teams on the ground.” BBC News reports; Tia Goldenberg, Samy Magdy, and Wafaa Shurafa report for AP News.
Israeli overnight strikes killed at least 60 people in Gaza and hit a family home and a school-turned-shelter, Palestinian health officials said today, adding that the strikes killed 38 people across Gaza in just half an hour. Israel has also issued evacuation orders for Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis. Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, and Tia Goldenberg report for AP News; Rushdi Abualouf reports for BBC News.
Israel will “take over all the areas of” Gaza and has allowed “minimal” aid into the territory after Israel’s backers in the U.S. Senate said the extreme hunger in the territory could affect their continued support for Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday. Feliz Solomon and Anat Peled report for the Wall Street Journal.
Jordan has recently returned 17 Palestinian children and their caregivers to Gaza after the children received medical treatment in the kingdom, the children’s families say. While a Jordanian official said that Jordan “will not allow the displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza, human rights experts warned that returning children to a war zone may be a possible violation of international law. Omar Akour, Samy Magdy, and Sam Mednick report for AP News.
Recent Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha have not led anywhere due to “fundamental differences between the parties,” Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said today. Reuters reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday refused to agree to an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine during a two-hour call with President Trump, stating that “Russia will propose and is ready to work with [Ukraine] on a memorandum” that could include “a possible ceasefire for a certain period if the relevant agreements are reached.” While Trump said that Russia and Ukraine agreed to “immediately” resume direct talks on a truce agreement, the Russian RIA state news agency quoted a Kremlin spokesperson as saying that “there are no deadlines” on the peace talks and “there cannot be any.” Alexander Ward and Alan Cullison report for the Wall Street Journal; Steve Holland, Guy Faulconbridge, and Olena Harmash report for Reuters.
Ukraine and Russia both accused the other of launching drone attacks overnight, hours after Trump’s conversation with Putin. The status quo “has not changed” following the phone call, one of Zelenskyy’s aides said. Svitlana Vlasova and Ross Adkin report for CNN.
A Russian fighter jet flew past an unflagged tanker sanctioned by the United Kingdom as the Estonian military tried to contact the ship, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said last week. Russia’s apparent effort to protect the tanker would represent a major change in the Kremlin’s approach, which previously avoided displaying clear links to the secretive fleet of ships ferrying Russian oil around the world. Joseph Ataman reports for CNN.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The president of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, was forced out of her post yesterday, with executives at Paramount, CBS’s parent company, informing her they wish for her to step down over the weekend, sources say. Paramount is currently in talks to settle a $20 billion lawsuit brought by Trump over CBS News’ coverage of an interview with Kamala Harriss that many legal experts said is baseless. Michael M. Grynbaum, Benjamin Mullin, and Lauren Hirsch report for the New York Times.
A Washington jury yesterday convicted retired four-star Adm. Robert P. Burke on federal bribery charges for awarding a sole-source contract to a company in 2021 in exchange for a $500,000-a-year job and stock options. The conviction made Burke the senior-most member of the U.S. military ever convicted of committing a federal crime while on active duty. Spencer S. Hsu reports for the Washington Post.
The Senate yesterday voted 66-23 to progress a bill aiming to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency, in a victory for the cryptocurrency industry. Robert Jimison reports for the New York Times.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
The Russian Prosecutor General’s office yesterday outlawed Amnesty International, designating the international human rights group as an “undesirable organization.” The designation means Amnesty must stop its work in Russia, and makes those who cooperate with or support its activities liable to prosecution. AP News reports.
Members of the U.N. World Health Organization today adopted a legally binding accord intended to allow the world to better prepare for future pandemics following the disjointed global response to COVID-19. U.S. negotiators left negotiations on the pact after Trump began withdrawing the United States from the WHO. Olivia Le Poidevin reports for Reuters.
Sudan’s Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan yesterday appointed the country’s first prime minister since the start of Sudan’s civil war two years ago, tasking Kamil al-Taib Idris, a former legal adviser to Sudan’s U.N. mission, with forming the country’s transitional government. Fatma Khaled reports for AP News.
Lithuania yesterday filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice alleging Belarus breached its obligations under the U.N. Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air by organizing the smuggling of migrants to Lithuania’s territory, Vilnius announced yesterday. AP News reports.
Tanzania’s most prominent opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, yesterday appeared in court on treason charges after calling for electoral reforms ahead of October’s general election. AP News reports.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Trump administration first approached Qatar to inquire about buying a luxury jet that could be used as Air Force One after Boeing told the Pentagon it would not be able to deliver custom new planes for another two years, sources say. The sources’ timeline contradicts Trump’s claim that Qatar reached out and offered the jet as a “gift.” Alex Marquardt, Kristen Holmes, and Natasha Bertrand report for CNN.
The Senate yesterday voted 51-45 to confirm real estate developer Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as the U.S. ambassador to France. Trump pardoned Kushner in 2020 after Kushner pleaded guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations. Mary Clare Jalonick reports for AP News.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called the U.S. demand that Tehran stops enriching uranium “excessive and outrageous” and doubted whether the nuclear talks will lead to results, according to Iran’s state media. Reuters reports.
HOUTHI DEVELOPMENTS
Yemen’s Houthi rebels yesterday announced what they called a “maritime blockade” of Israel’s Haifa port in response to Israel’s ongoing conflict in Gaza. Reuters reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The United States yesterday sent 68 immigrants from Honduras and Colombia back to their countries on the first government-funded “voluntary deportation” flight. Claudio Escalón and Marlon González report for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Justice Department yesterday charged Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) with “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement” during a clash outside a Newark immigration center earlier this month, the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, announced yesterday. The DOJ also said it has dropped a trespass charge against Mayor Ras Baraka related to the same episode. Rep. McIver described the charges against her as “purely political.” Luis Ferré-Sadurní reports for the New York Times.
Trump is considering nominating Emil Bove, Associate Deputy Attorney General and Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, sources say. Glenn Thrush and Charlie Savage report for the New York Times.
The DOJ plans to use the False Claims Act, a law intended to punish corrupt recipients of federal funding, to pressure institutions like Harvard to abandon their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced yesterday. DOJ’s use of the law is very likely to be met with legal challenges. Glenn Thrush and Alan Blinder report for the New York Times.
The Trump administration has agreed to pay just $5 million to settle a federal wrongful death lawsuit brought by Ashli Babbitt, a Jan. 6 rioter who was shot dead by a Capitol police officer, according to a source. Eric Tucker and Michael Kunzelman report for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Supreme Court yesterday granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal against a lower court judgment that had temporarily blocked the government from immediately ending immigration protections for 350,000 Venezuelans living in the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s termination of Venezuelan migrants’ temporary protected status will now be effective as the litigation challenging her action continues. Josh Gerstein reports for POLITICO.
A federal judge yesterday blocked Trump’s attempt to fire the U.S. Institute of Peace president and board members and transfer the institute’s assets, ruling that the President exceeded his authority, USIP leadership were fired unlawfully, and should be reinstated. Ryan Lucas reports for NPR.
The Trump administration must seek the return of a Venezuelan man deported in March from the United States to an El Salvador prison in violation of a legal settlement after a federal appeals court yesterday upheld a lower court order requiring the administration to facilitate the man’s return. Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.
A Houston judge yesterday ordered the Trump administration to track down a Venezuelan man believed to have been deported to El Salvador. The 24-year old asylum seeker’s family filed a suit demanding his return after the man’s name appeared on CBS News’ list identifying the 238 men deported to a notorious Salvadoran prison. The government’s attorney said that while he had “no reason to doubt” the claim that the man was in El Salvador, he did not have information as to his whereabouts. Sam González Kelly reports for the Houston Chronicle.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
The post Early Edition: May 20, 2025 appeared first on Just Security.
In May, partners of the Gates Foundation gathered in Manhattan to announce that the organization would spend $200 billion over the next 20 years and then close its doors in 2045. Supporters, including Michael Bloomberg, were on hand to mark the occasion. The scene, staged at Carnegie Hall, a venue built by one of America’s great 19th century philanthropists, paid tribute to a long tradition of American giving, while pointing to new ways of thinking that are shaping the 21st century.
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For those reasons, we include Bloomberg, the U.S.’s single largest recorded donor in 2024, and Mark Suzman, set to lead the next chapter of the Gates Foundation, in our inaugural TIME100 Philanthropy list. We launched the annual TIME100 21 years ago with the belief that individuals have the power to change the world, and in recent years we’ve expanded the franchise into areas poised to significantly shape our future—AI, Climate, Health, and now Philanthropy. In many places, as global institutions are chastened and world governments reverse ambitions, philanthropy is stepping into the void.
This project, representing individuals from 28 countries and assembled by TIME’s reporters, editors, and contributors around the world, was led by Ayesha Javed. “At this pivotal moment, this list tells the stories of how generous donors and leaders of foundations and non-profits are directing funding into the communities that need it most,” Javed says.
In the U.S. in particular, foundations are under increased pressure as the new Administration aims to remove the government from spaces where it previously played a substantial role. TIME100 Philanthropy honorees like Elizabeth Alexander and Nick Allardice are responding. As president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the largest funder of the arts and humanities in the U.S., Alexander says she focused on supporting “multi-vocal, multi-experiential democracy” in America. And Allardice, who leads GiveDirectly—one of the world’s largest providers of unconditional cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty—says he is leaning the organization further into humanitarian work despite a $20 million hit to funding due to USAID cuts. “Cash can be uniquely powerful when all the other supply chains are super disrupted,” Allardice told TIME.
A new generation of donors is doing things their own way. Katherine Lorenz, president of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, was instrumental in creating the Giving Pledge Next Generation for descendants of Giving Pledge signatories to help shape their family giving, while Austrian heiress Marlene Engelhorn invited a council of fellow citizens to decide how to give away the bulk of her inheritance. Through their foundation Good Ventures and grantmaker Open Philanthropy, Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna take a data-focused approach to direct funds to causes where they can do the most good. Meanwhile, in January, Stack Overflow co-founder Jeff Atwood announced his mission to give away half his wealth within five years. He next plans to make direct cash payments to residents of poor counties in West Virginia, North Carolina, and Arizona. “It’s not a handout,” he says. “It’s an investment in our fellow Americans.”
Collective giving is on the rise too. The grassroots movement allows individuals to pool resources for greater impact. According to the Johnson Center for Philanthropy, “giving circles” have contributed more than $3.1 billion to social causes since 2017. Hali Lee, founder of the Asian Women Giving Circle and co-founder of the Donors of Color Network, argues the future of philanthropy belongs to community action.
The new leaders in philanthropy, many of whom are accustomed to great success in their own fields, are eager to see impact and see it now. As David Beckham, a longtime UNICEF ambassador, says, “The competitive part of it is, I want to see wins.”
Revisionist history: Jake Tapper spent years downplaying concerns about Joe Biden’s mental fitness—until the president’s disastrous decline became conventional wisdom and fodder for a book deal. His new release with Axios’s Alex Thompson, Original Sin, documents Biden’s cognitive deterioration and the White House’s efforts to cover it up. But as our Andrew Stiles and Thaleigha Rampersad report, Tapper “helped to conceal that reality when it mattered most.” He should have interviewed himself.
In August 2020, Tapper dismissed Republican concerns about Biden’s sharpness as “unfair” and “frankly hypocritical.” Two months later, he cut off Lara Trump mid-interview for suggesting Biden exhibited “cognitive decline,” accusing her of “mocking his stutter” and saying she had “no standing” to make such claims. He later implied that Republicans raising the issue were parroting Russian disinformation. Even after special counsel Robert Hur’s February 2024 report described Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” Tapper insisted the president “was not the way he is caricatured” on Fox News.
Stiles and Rampersad have the definitive guide to what Tapper was doing, saying, and reporting during Biden’s four years in office. You’ll need it handy as Tapper tries to rewrite history.
READ MORE: The Tapper Dossier: How the CNN Host Covered (Up) the Biden Cover-Up—Before Writing a Book About It
Chaos at CBS: Scott Pelley, the 60 Minutes correspondent and former CBS Evening News anchor, used a Wake Forest commencement address to defend DEI, attack CBS News’s parent company, and denounce the Trump administration, reports our Zach Kessel. It’s all in a day’s work for a non-partisan reporter!
“Freedom of speech is under attack,” Pelley declared on Monday. “Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. And insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes, and into our private thoughts.”
Pelley compared 2025 to the Civil War and World War II and criticized efforts to roll back diversity initiatives. “‘Diversity’ is now described as ‘illegal.’ ‘Equity’ is to be shunned. ‘Inclusion’ is a dirty word,” he told graduates. “Why attack universities? Why attack journalism? Because ignorance works for power.”
Hours after the speech, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced her resignation, telling colleagues she and the company “do not agree on a path forward.” As Kessel notes, McMahon’s departure follows clashes with Paramount chairwoman Shari Redstone over the network’s negotiations in a $20 billion lawsuit from Trump over how 60 Minutes edited an interview with then-vice president Kamala Harris, as well as internal blowback over the network’s anti-Israel slant in its reporting on the war in Gaza.
Ink-stained insurgent: A Bloomberg journalist was among the 81 radicals arrested during the storming of Columbia University’s Butler Library earlier this month, reports our Jon Levine. Jason Kao, a graphics reporter and Columbia alumnus, was charged with criminal trespassing in the third degree, according to the NYPD—a charge that suggests he wasn’t merely covering the incident in his capacity as a journalist.
Kao previously worked at the New York Times and held roles at the Texas Tribune and ProPublica. While he’s reported on a range of topics in his professional work, his personal website “is exclusively devoted to negative coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza,” Levine writes. His now-deleted X account, @cow_portal, “posted frequently about Israel and Gaza,” according to cached Google results.
The May 7 library raids left two public safety officers injured and saw rioters distribute pro-Hamas pamphlets, vandalize the building, and rename it after a Palestinian terrorist. The arrest list included “celebrity nepo baby Ramona Sarsgaard” as well as “a disproportionately large contingent of people who identify as ‘they/them.’”
A Bloomberg spokesman said Kao is no longer with the company.
READ MORE: Bloomberg Journalist Among Anti-Israel Radicals Arrested For Storming Columbia Library
Away from the Beacon:
- Will Lewis, call your office: The Washington Post is all over Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis. In a quadruple-bylined piece, the Post asserts that “in a reflection of today’s harsh political environment and reignited questions over Biden’s health during his reelection campaign and his inner circle’s handling of the situation, some Republicans and right-wing activists wasted little time asserting, without evidence, that Biden and his circle covered up the diagnosis.”
While the media scolded conservatives for spreading so-called cheap fakes of Joe Biden, Tapper and Thompson’s book reveals team Biden brought in Steven Spielberg to craft misleading videos—including a never-broadcasted, made-for-video town hall. Staffers used “slow motion videos of Biden so people didn’t realize how slowly he was walking in real-time, and used extra edits to clean up his stumbles,” Semafor’s Maxwell Tani reported. Call them expensive fakes!
The University of Minnesota is shutting down its Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity following plagiarism allegations against its director, who resigned last month, Alpha News reported. “We are currently assessing and reimagining the important work of health equity research and action as we also work closely with our funding partners to align priorities and strategic direction,” Melinda Pettigrew, dean of the School of Public Health, told staff in an email.
The post Tapper Rewrites His Own History. Plus, 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley Unleashes on Trump and His Bosses in Commencement Address. appeared first on .
Supplement company Vimergy unveiled its latest campaign, “Mouth of America,” which features an eye-catching public art installation in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The campaign aims to confront issues within the U.S. healthcare system.
According to representatives with Vimergy, the company wants to spark national dialogue by calling out how systemic incentives in the healthcare industry profit from chronic illness and overmedication.
The centerpiece of this campaign is a large-scale sculpture called “Lady Liberty’s Mouth of America.” This installation depicts the Statue of Liberty’s face seemingly swallowing an array of enormous pills scattered across the pavement.
The image uses a universal symbol of freedom and hope, Lady Liberty, to starkly illustrate the nation’s health crisis: a society allegedly drowning in overprescription, chronic disease and growing distrust in health institutions.
Phil Jacobson, chief brand officer of Vimergy, hopes the piece encourages Americans to reclaim their health through preventive wellness and self-advocacy.
“This installation challenges the narrative we’ve long been sold—that our healthcare system is built to keep us healthy,” Jacobs said in a statement. “But the truth is, the sicker we are, the more the system profits. Lady Liberty herself has become a patient, and she’s not alone. Our hope is to provoke reflection and spark a movement toward true health sovereignty.”
According to the National Library of Medicine, prescription drug use in the United States is at record-breaking numbers, reporting that 6.3 billion prescriptions—approximately 19 prescriptions for every American— were filled in 2020 alone.
“The name says it all – we can save ourselves,” Dani Frese, a Vimergy wellness consultant, said. “Americans are ready to break free from a system that treats symptoms, not people. This campaign is a rallying cry.”
Complementing the physical installation, Vimergy launched a new website, featuring a compelling short film produced in partnership with Uncommon Creative Studio. The site also includes a recent survey conducted by Talker Research, which explores consumer attitudes toward health and wellness, along with educational resources about root-cause issues and health sovereignty.
Vimergy’s mission is rooted in personal journeys of the company’s founders, who resisted chronic illness through nutrition, supplementation, and self-advocacy. Today, Vimergy offers products to over 60 countries, with a focus on purity, potency, and natural wellness solutions. Their offerings include non-GMO, gluten-free, soy-free, and paleo-friendly supplements, including innovative liquid vitamins designed for fast absorption and gut health.
The campaign’s broader message resonates with a growing movement seeking to redefine health on individual terms.
The typical K-drama romance ends in marriage and, sometimes, starting a family. Traditionally, the former has been seen as a prerequisite for the latter.
But South Korea’s government wants more people to see that it’s OK to skip a step.
Local media reported this week that a recent study commissioned by the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy and conducted by the Korea Women’s Development Institute showed that between 2008 and 2024, among both men and women in their 20s and 30s, there have been significantly increasing approval rates for childbirth out of wedlock.
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Support for childbirth out of wedlock among women in their 20s rose from 28.4% in 2008 to 42.4% last year. For women in their 30s, it rose from 23.9% to 40.7% during the same period. A similar trend appeared for men: in 2008, 32.4% of those in their 20s and 28.7% of those in their 30s approved of childbirth out of wedlock, while 43.1% and 43.3% of the respective male age groups approved in 2024.
The government clearly welcomes the shedding of what was once a stigma, as it struggles to boost its fertility rate, which rose for the first time in nine years last year but remains the lowest in the world at 0.75 children per woman.
Why fertility rate matters
South Korea is not alone in Asia or the world when it comes to an aging population, but by the end of 2024 the East Asian nation of 51 million became a “super-aged” society after 20% of its population became 65 years old and above.
In order to “replace” a population throughout generations without immigration, a country needs a fertility rate of 2.1. Consistently lower fertility rates can result in a smaller workforce, slow economic growth, and strain social security and pension systems. To help keep the economy afloat, many of South Korea’s elderly continue to work.
What South Korea has done to try to boost births
Over the years, particularly under since-impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea has thrown everything it can at its demographic crisis, from cash incentives to increasing parental leaves and benefits to even considering military conscription exemptions for parents.
Yoon, a pronatalist who blamed feminism for the low fertility rate, declared in June 2024 a “demographic national emergency” and unveiled a slew of policies aimed at enticing families to have children, given concerns about high costs of living. The plans also included a new Ministry of Population Strategy and Planning tasked with crafting the policies, though it did not materialize before his ouster.
How marriage relates—and doesn’t—to birth rates
South Korea’s marriage rate actually increased in 2024, with 14.8% more couples wedded compared to the year before. But that doesn’t necessarily mean more children will be born, as women, trends show, are opting to have fewer children whether they are married or not.
Population experts have said that pushing couples to marry may not be the solution to reverse low fertility that so many policymakers assume; rather, escaping what experts have called the “low-fertility trap” may require broader changes to societal norms. For South Korea, the traditional family structure could be one such norm.
Why perceptions are changing
Childbirth out of wedlock is still relatively rare in South Korea. Some 4.7% of babies born in 2023 were born to women who were not married or in a civil partnership, and while that figure has been on an uptrend since 2018, it is significantly below the average of 42% in developed countries (members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD).
Deeply ingrained prejudices against South Korean women who have babies outside of marriage have contributed to the low figure. The word horojasik is sometimes used to insult a child born out of wedlock.
“It is just desired tradition/belief with inherited Confucian culture mostly on the female duty and role,” says Youngmi Kim, a senior lecturer of Korean Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
But these perceptions are changing, especially after Yoon’s administration introduced several welfare policies catering to single parents as part of his bid to boost birthrates. Greater visibility, including celebrities having children out of wedlock, has also contributed to the shift.
The Presidential Committee released on May 20 a study on public awareness of South Korea’s population problem, as well as perceptions on marriage and childbirth. The study, conducted last March, noted that unmarried individuals are increasingly willing to have kids. Joo Hyung-hwan, who is vice chair of the committee, said in a press release that the latest statistics from the country have been “encouraging,” but added that the committee “will provide support to all those who want a child by improving the discriminatory factors and institutional deficiencies of non-marital births.”
The Yoon Administration recognized that South Korea’s fertility-boosting policies needed to be more inclusive of those who had or wanted children but did not wish to marry. But as South Korea heads for a snap election for a new leader in June, leading presidential candidates appear focused on policies such as housing support for newlyweds.
