K-pop group SHINee’s Jonghyun said that he’s “afraid to father a child” because he is “unconfident to raise a child to be sound in body and mind amidst current government policies.”

In his tweet dated Friday, the 26-year-old musician mentioned South Korea’s recent sociopolitical issues of the low birthrate and publication of state-authored history textbooks.

In a bid to fight the flat birthrate, South Korea’s ruling Saenuri Party had announced plans to pull down the compulsory school age by a year so that the young would finish school early, begin working early and consequently bear children early.

Jonghyun (SM Entertainment)

Jonghyun expressed his confusion at the warped logic of it, as the number of years spent on education was hardly the core reason for people’s decision against having babies, compared to the difficult economic conditions.

The Park Geun-hye administration is also pushing forward with the controversial state-authored history textbooks, arguing the current materials written by eight different publishers are left-leaning and pro-North Korea.

Democracy-fighters and activists are taking to the streets to protest against the proposed unilateral education, concerned that history will be watered down in favor of the descendants of the colonial era pro-Japanese, who are still the financially endowed lots in Korea.

The public also distrust the incumbent President Park’s judgments when it comes to her assassinated father, the military strongman Park Chung-hee who ruled the country for 14 years and brought the nation to a lopsided yet elevated economy through his emphatic policies in the 1970s.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)

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