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Over 4,000 schools shut down nationwide as student numbers plunge
The Korea Times ^ | December 29, 2025 | Jung Min-ho

Posted on 12/31/2025 12:02:36 AM PST by Morgana

More than 4,000 elementary, middle and high schools across Korea have shut their doors as the country’s student population shrinks, new data shows.

According to the Ministry of Education’s latest figures, revealed on Sunday by Rep. Jin Sun-mee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, since 1980, 4,008 schools under 17 regional education offices nationwide have closed as of March this year. During the period, the number of enrolled students decreased from 9.9 million to 5.07 million.

Elementary schools account for the majority of closures, with 3,674 shut down permanently, compared with 264 middle schools and 70 high schools. Over the past five years alone, 158 schools have closed, and an additional 107 schools are projected to shut down over the next five years.

Korea’s birthrate ― the lowest in the world with the total fertility rate remaining below 0.8 ― is the chief reason behind this contraction. The pace of closures also suggests that enrollment decline is expected to accelerate in provincial regions rather than in the capital area.

The largest number of closures are in North Jeolla Province with 16 schools, followed by South Jeolla Province (15), Gyeonggi Province (12) and South Chungcheong Province (11).

The country’s broader demographic outlook suggests that the contraction will only intensify in the coming years, if not decades. The state‑run Korean Educational Development Institute estimates that the number of elementary, middle and high school students stands at about 5.07 million this year and is projected to decrease to roughly 4.25 million by 2029 — a drop of more than 800,000 pupils in just six years.

The ministry data also reveal serious gaps in how closed school sites are being managed. Of the 4,008 schools that have been shut down, 376 remain unused. Among them, 266 have been left idle for more than a decade, and 82 have sat abandoned for over 30 years.

According to the lawmaker’s office, the figures suggest that follow‑up management and reuse of former school facilities are lagging behind the speed of closures, which raises concerns about wasted public assets.

“A considerable number of schools have already closed, and this will continue as student numbers decline,” Jin said. “We must not stop at simply shutting schools down, but instead develop a long‑term road map to repurpose them as assets for local communities.”


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: apathy; birthrate; education; korea; nihilism; prolife; shutdown
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So many schools that were around when I was a child have closed. I know it's because of abortion. About 3000 abortions were done a day during Roe.

It takes about 25 kids to fill up a Kindergarten class. In 5 years those kids who were aborted would have gone to Kindergarten, but around 3000 of them were aborted daily. So that is about 120 Kindergartens that were eliminated daily until the entire school was.

1 posted on 12/31/2025 12:02:36 AM PST by Morgana
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To: Morgana

Urbanization in Korea. Anyways it’s the catch 22 of modern democracy. Humans have smaller families when they live within the tight and expensive confines of a metropolitan area.
Add in wokism, abortion, feminism and the list of other anti human isms and you run into demographic catastrophe


2 posted on 12/31/2025 12:08:19 AM PST by Archie Bunker on steroids (You may not take an interest in politics, but politics takes an interest in you "Pericles" )
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To: Morgana

according to Google overview:

South Korea’s abortion rate

2019 Estimate: Around 21 abortions per 1,000 women.

Trend: A decline in the rate from 1990-2019, according to Guttmacher Institute estimates, with a significant drop from 43 per 1,000 women in 1990-1994 to 21 in 2015-2019.

Historical Peaks: Earlier data suggests much higher rates, with one 1977-1978 Seoul study estimating 235 per 1,000 women, and a 2005 study estimating around 30 per 1,000 women.


3 posted on 12/31/2025 12:08:22 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege ( 🩰🌹)
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To: Archie Bunker on steroids

It’s a problem easily solved by importing millions of Muslims and sub Saharans


4 posted on 12/31/2025 12:09:54 AM PST by Archie Bunker on steroids (You may not take an interest in politics, but politics takes an interest in you "Pericles" )
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To: Morgana

“She claimed she aborted her baby at nine months. In this country, there’s no law against that” (September 20, 2024)

“A South Korean vlogger who claimed to have terminated her pregnancy at 36 weeks is being investigated for murder in a case that’s prompted horror in South Korea and raised urgent questions about why the country has no abortion laws.

Seoul National Police began investigating the woman in July at the request of the South Korean government, after she posted a video to YouTube purportedly documenting her experience of getting an abortion, police told CNN.

Abortions past 24 weeks are banned in many jurisdictions, or reserved for very exceptional cases, such as fetal anomalies or when the mother’s health is at risk.

But in South Korea, there are no laws governing when, where or how abortions can take place – and there haven’t been for almost four years.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/20/asia/south-korea-abortion-youtube-video-intl-hnk#


5 posted on 12/31/2025 12:12:35 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege ( 🩰🌹)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

One big problem is Korean marriage rates are dropping. Korea is still traditional and prefers children brought up in a family unit. However with people not getting married there are no children being produced.


6 posted on 12/31/2025 12:13:31 AM PST by Morgana ( “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.” — Alice Paul 🇺🇸 )
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To: Archie Bunker on steroids

South Korea is actually a popular destination for *Western* expats...And foreign inter-marriages are becoming more en vogue.


7 posted on 12/31/2025 12:13:37 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege ( 🩰🌹)
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To: Morgana
However with people not getting married there are no children being produced.

yeah that makes sense.

8 posted on 12/31/2025 12:14:38 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege ( 🩰🌹)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

You know I honestly believe that if God had put Eve in the Garden of Eden first by the time Eve had gone around to all the animals, named them, and was familiar with them she would have came to the cat family and said “okay God, I’m good” and she would not have been alone like Adam was.


9 posted on 12/31/2025 12:20:06 AM PST by Morgana ( “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.” — Alice Paul 🇺🇸 )
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To: Morgana

In MA, we fixed the problem of declining enrollment by hiring more school administrators.

No need to close schools!


10 posted on 12/31/2025 12:31:49 AM PST by C210N
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To: Archie Bunker on steroids
Anyways it’s the catch 22 of modern democracy. Humans have smaller families when they live within the tight and expensive confines of a metropolitan area.

Yeah, about that...

Regards,

11 posted on 12/31/2025 12:40:17 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Archie Bunker on steroids
You know, what Somalias say?

“we don’t need no stinking children to run a school!”

12 posted on 12/31/2025 12:55:18 AM PST by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show host to me.... Sting)
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To: Morgana

This could lead to a RAM apocalypse.


13 posted on 12/31/2025 1:12:34 AM PST by dennisw (There is no limit to human stupidity / )
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To: Morgana

They’ve moved the kids to live with their relatives in Northern Virginia to go to school here, particularly Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.


14 posted on 12/31/2025 1:19:49 AM PST by mikey_hates_everything
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To: dennisw
This could lead to a RAM apocalypse.

Huh?!

Could you please explain that, for those of us who are not so tech-savvy?

Regards,

15 posted on 12/31/2025 2:00:31 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Morgana

A declining population is a big problem. Whatever you do, do not compound the problem by bringing in Muslims and Africans. They are a cancer on any society.


16 posted on 12/31/2025 2:25:11 AM PST by FLT-bird
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To: alexander_busek; dennisw

South Korea produces over half of the world’s memory chips. Few kids in SK = few future workers in SK.


17 posted on 12/31/2025 2:25:20 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Morgana

South Korean women are not having babies. A fertility rate below 0.8? That’s a death spiral. South Korea will not be able to function in 50 years unless they import millions of immigrants.


18 posted on 12/31/2025 3:03:00 AM PST by servo1969
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To: Tell It Right

No worries, Somali people will setup chip factories. 🙄


19 posted on 12/31/2025 3:04:55 AM PST by Bobbyvotes (Work is worship! .... Bhagavad Geeta)
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To: Bobbyvotes
No worries, Somali people will setup chip factories. 🙄

At least when the Somalis make chips we won’t have to worry about incompatibility across name brands. All Somali production is through inbreeding. 😏

20 posted on 12/31/2025 3:10:48 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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