Modern Economics & Management Forum

South Korea has one of the fastest demographic transitions in OECD countries, with fertility rates being low and ageing rapidly, which jeopardizes its long-term economic sustainability and social interactions. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of South Korea's policy responses to population aging and identify the governance challenges to the sustainability of these responses. This paper is based on a qualitative policy analysis framework that is a combination of document analysis, secondary data analysis and comparative assessment with France and the Netherlands and analyzes three areas: pension and fertility reform, labor market participation and migration management. It has been found out that Korea has partially succeeded in widening the scope of welfare, encouraging women and the elderly to work and opening the selective migration policy. Nonetheless, limited effectiveness has been caused by fiscal pressure, gender inequality, inflexible labor institutions, and poor policy coordination. This paper finds that population aging in South Korea is not just a demographic or economic problem but a multi-dimensional governance problem. The experience of Korea is a good lesson to other countries that have experienced the same demographic transition.