39-year-old Kang Jung-hwa runs an international food wholesale business. She never planned not to have children, but the time just never felt right fighting her way up the corporate ladder in hyper-competitive South Korea.

For Jung-hwa, that also ruled out marriage.

It’s an increasingly common story in a country, where the birthrate has fallen to a historic low of 0.96, a little less than half the replacement rate in other words, a ticking economic timebomb.

CGTN’S Jack Barton has more.