A wisecracking professional matchmaker breaks the ice as 40 people aged in their twenties and thirties gather at a hotel for a blind date.

40來個2-30歲的年輕人聚在一家飯店相親，一個專業媒人正使出三寸不爛之舌，講俏皮話以打破沉默，使現場氣氛活絡起來。

Mass blind dates are common in South Korea but there's something unusual about this event in Asan: the city government is the one playing Cupid.

集團相親在南韓很常見，但這次在牙山的相親活動很不尋常，因為是由市政府出面扮演紅娘。

"Matchmaking is no longer a personal business, it's the duty of the nation," Yu Yang-Sun, a municipal official organising the recent event, told AFP in the city 90 km south of Seoul. "Newborn babies are hardly seen here these days. If the young grow older unmarried and produce no kids, the nation will no longer have the basic human resources to sustain itself."

「作媒已經不再是個人的私事，國家已經責無旁貸。現在已經難得看到新生兒了，如果年輕人老了又沒結婚生子，我們再也沒有基本的人力資源可以支撐它了，」負責主辦最近這次相親事宜的牙山市政府官員于洋申，在位於首爾以南90公里的這個城市告訴法新社。

Asan's birthrate is 1.08, much lower even than the low national average, according to Ko Bun-Ja, one of Yu's deputies who is helping organize the event.

協助于洋申籌備這次活動的助理高本家也指出，牙山出生率只有1.08，遠低於韓國已經偏低的全國出生率。

"Well, folks, give birth to a baby and become a patriot like me," Noh Gyeong-Seon, who is seven months' pregnant, told the group as she proudly displayed her bump. Some blushed, others giggled.

已經懷有7個月身孕的盧景善驕傲的挺著大肚子，告訴在場這群人說：「那好吧，各位，像我一樣增產報國吧。」有人羞紅了臉，有人咯咯傻笑。

Five hours later, 12 of the 40 had decided to keep dating -- much to the delight of city officials hearing the distant chime of wedding bells.

五個小時後，40個人中有12個決定繼續約會，牙山市府官員彷彿聽到結婚鐘聲從遠方傳來，樂不可支。

After years of promoting family planning in the crowded nation of 48.6 million, South Korea in recent years has become increasingly alarmed at the prospect of an ageing society with a huge pensions bill and too few workers to sustain economic growth.

在這個人口高達4860萬的擁擠國家，在多年提倡家庭計畫後，近年來對社會老化的前景日益恐慌，因為巨額養老金，使日益減少的工作人口，無力維繫南韓的經濟成長。

The government is increasing the number of nursery schools and providing more financial support -- such as tax breaks or subsidised baby-sitting -- for married couples who start families. Cash gifts are sometimes provided for newborns.

政府正在增設托兒所，並提供開始成家的新婚夫婦更多財政補助，像所得稅寬減額或托嬰補貼等，有時還送新生兒禮金。

But the birthrate -- the average number of babies born during a woman's lifetime -- remained near the world's lowest at 1.19 last year. Fears are growing that the population will start shrinking within a decade.

但去年南韓出生率仍逼近世界最低的1.19，所謂出生率就是女人一生平均所生的嬰兒數字。更令人擔心的是10年內人口會開始減少。

"It is a quasi-emergency situation," Jeon Jae-Hee, Minister of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, told Chosun Ilbo newspaper recently. "If the low birthrate continues, the nation will no longer be able to exist, with all four state insurance systems set to malfunction."

南韓衛生部部長全在姬最近告訴《朝鮮日報》：「現在已經進入半緊急狀態。如果這種低出生率持續下去，南韓將無以為繼，所有四項官方保險制度都將無法運作。」

The homogeneous society may have to rely on foreign immigrant labour to stay afloat, Jeon warned.

全在姬警告說，南韓同種族的社會可能得靠外籍勞工才不至於滅頂。

The economic downturn is making it even harder to reverse the trend.

經濟衰退更難扭轉這種趨勢。

The number of marriages fell 4.6 percent year-on-year to 329,600 last year and the number of births dropped 5.5 percent to 466,000, official data shows.

官方統計數字顯示，結婚人數去年比前年減少4.6%，去年已經跌到329,600，生育數字則跌掉5.5%，成為466,000。

"Because of economic difficulties, couples delay marriage and consequently birthrates are falling," said Jeon Baek-Geun, director of the National Statistical Office. He predicts the population will peak at 49 million in 2018 and then start falling.

南韓統計廳科長全白根則說：「由於經濟困難，使佳偶延後結婚，導致出生率下跌。」他預測，南韓人口將在2018年攻頂達到5900萬人，接著人口開始下滑。

Asan launched a state-run centre in 2007 to fund the matchmaking business, the first local government in the country to do so. It has since been joined by Seoul's southern district of Seocho and the southwestern city of Jeongup, among others.

牙山在2007年率先成立官方機構，出資贊助媒合配對事宜，也是全國第一個這麼做的地方政府。此後，首爾南區的瑞草和西南部城市井邑等也紛紛跟進。

Asan brought 300 people together through quarterly blind dates in 2008. Twenty of them are still dating, with marriage in mind, and the city says it will continue the initiative. Its marriage and counselling centre has registered 1,700 people looking for spouses, along with detailed information such as the preferred type of partner, hobbies and religious and academic backgrounds.

牙山去年透過每季所辦的相親大會撮合300對新人，其中20對還在繼續約會，並打算結婚，市政府表示將繼續辦下去。牙山婚姻顧問中心已有1,700人登記想找結婚對象，他們還留下詳細的資料像他們喜歡的配偶類型、嗜好以及宗教和教育背景。

Officials say the nation's low birthrate is partly due to more women joining the workforce and the lack of a comprehensive welfare system. The high cost of child-rearing is also a deterrent. Household spending on education reached an all-time high of 39.8 trillion won (29.5 billion dollars) last year, up 7.7 percent from a year earlier despite the economic downturn.

官員表示，南韓低出生率部分肇因於更多女性投入職場及缺乏完備的福利制度。養兒育女價格高昂也產生嚇阻作用。儘管經濟衰退，去年每戶人家的教育費用比前一年增加7.7%，達空前最高峰的39.8兆韓元（295億美元）。

"This is a country where it's really uncomfortable to marry and raise children, given the shocking cost of education," said Bang Jeong-Ju, 30, one of the women on the recent blind date in Asan. "My friends all say that if you cannot afford to give your kids a really good education, just don't get pregnant. Otherwise, pregnancy would be a sin."

最近參加牙出相親大會的30歲女子方正洙就說：「教育費用貴得嚇人，這個國家真的很不適合結婚生子。我的朋友都說，如果供不起子女受真正良好的教育，最好不要懷孕，否則懷孕會是一大罪過。」

Photo shows South Korean children taking a walk as a young couple look on at a park in Seoul.

圖中（法新社）南韓一對年輕夫婦正在首爾公園陪子女散步玩耍。