The last children on an ageing South Korean island – in pictures
Nokdo Island, about a 75-minute ferry ride from Boryeong on South Korea’s west coast, has only a handful of children. After decades of national urbanisation and a long-gone birth control drive, Nokdo’s decline encapsulates the demographic slump that led to the population of Asia’s fourth largest economy dropping for the first time last year. It has become the world’s fastest-ageing society, with the lowest birth rate anywhere in 2020, according to the World Bank
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Ye-hee, three, plays hide-and-seek with her two siblings
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chan-hee, 10, and his younger sister Chae-hee, seven, rollerblade together on the seafront. ‘It would be great if I have more friends here because I can have more options to play,’ said Chan-hee
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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During a visit to Asan on the mainland, Chan-hee looks at cacti at the Life Is a Flower garden centre
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chae-hee waves at a ferry as it sails away from the island
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chae-hee and Ye-hee on their way to the beach
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chan-hee takes the temperature of a Nokdo resident attending the island’s church
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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During the service, Chan-hee helps to turn the pages of a Bible
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Islander Kim Si-young, 66, cooks oysters for Chan-hee and Chae-hee. Speaking of the closure of the island’s school in 2006, he said: ‘I cried so much. I want to protect Nokdo, but it’s depressing to see fewer and fewer people here’
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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All of the houses on Nokdo are crowded around the harbour
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chan-hee plays with Chae-hee. ‘Seoul is so crowded, noisy and the air is not good,’ said Chan-hee. ‘Nokdo has no traffic, isn’t noisy and the air is clean. I can play outside more actively, so I like it here’
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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The children eat lunch with their mother, Ji-hui, 41, and father, Geun-pil, 42. ‘I’m also worried this place might disappear soon,’ said Geun-pil. ‘My first one needs to go to a middle school in two years ... I want to give some hope [to people on the island] by finding a way to give middle-school education to Chan-hee from here’
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chan-hee, Chae-hee and Ye-hee get ready to go to sleep
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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On the first day of the new semester, Chan-hee and Chae-hee get ready for school with their father
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chan-hee rides a swing before going to school
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chae-hee takes a moment to look into a mirror
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chan-hee and Chae-hee stop off to visit Nokdo elementary school, which was closed in 2006
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
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Chan-hee, Chae-hee and Si-hu race towards school
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
