Demographic Cliff

[Anchor Lead]

As Korea heads to the demographic cliff,the country's school age population is shrinking and the number of school closings is rising. Authorities should find ways to make use of the closed schools, but even that is not easy.

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This is Gajwa Branch School of Ochang Elementary School in Cheongju. It closed down in 2008. A decade has passed since, but the building stands neglected as authorities haven't found a way to make use of it. Education authorities have been trying to design a building utilization plan, but still haven't come up with any concrete solution. In the Chungbuk region, 33 out of 241 closed schools are left unused. Nationwide, 420 such buildings stand abandoned without serving any other purposes. Their combined property value from the structures and land exceeds 289 billion won. The Chungcheongbuk-do Office of Education is attempting to sell or rent the school properties, but there are no buyers, because of the buildings' poor accessibility and huge price tags.

[Soundbite] Hong Jong-min(Dept. of Financial Affairs, Chungcheongbuk-do Office of Education) : "Land in areas around the city is expensive, but land in remote places is cheap. But school grounds are vast."

The problem is that the school age population will shrink by more than 50,000 every year, resulting in more closed schools. Then, it will become harder to find uses for all those abandoned school buildings. Some experts note that local government bodies should help find solutions, like renovating the old school buildings so they can be used for relaxation, healing, and other productive purposes.

[Soundbite] Rep. Kim Hae-young(Democratic Party) : "Closed schools with huge property values should not be left abandoned. Discussions should be held with local communities and residents on how to use them to improve people's lives."

The central government has reportedly started reviewing the issue in order to come up with school utilization plans for the local governments.