Korea demography reader (March 18, 2010 edition)

• A study by Job Korea has found that 80 percent of working women delay childbirth, a major piece of South Korea's low-fertility puzzle.

• A survey of 73,000 "multicultural" families reveals that foreign-born wives are on average ten years younger than their Korea-born husbands, while foreign-born husbands are only 1.3 years older than their Korea-born wives. Some 38 percent of them are in families earning between 1 and 2 million won per month, and 36 percent of foreign-born wives have not graduated from high school. The Joongang Daily also dealt with the report.

• The National Human Rights Commission has written a complaint on behalf of the approximately five thousand high school girls who are forced to leave school upon getting pregnant. A related story is in the Joongang Daily.

• The Korea Times has an article on Jeon Jaehee [전재희, chŏn chaehi] the Minister of Health and Welfare who is tasked with improving the nation's basement-level fertility rate.