00:01With a hand to hold and a voice to trust, young South Korean singles make their way toward a temple
00:07gate, said to make dreams come true.
00:09For some, that dream is simple, meeting the right person.
00:14At Naksansa Temple on the country's northeastern coast, strangers were picked to get to know each other in this unusual
00:21way.
00:22The trust-building exercise is part of a two-day matchmaking retreat run by the Korean Buddhist Foundation for Social
00:29Welfare.
00:30It aims to bring young singles together as South Korea grapples with one of the world's lowest birth rates.
00:36Instead of a typical blind date, participants connect through shared experiences, including tea sessions, temple tours, and one-on-one
00:45activities.
00:46For 30-year-old Choi Ye-ri, the retreat offered a chance to meet like-minded people.
00:53Honestly, they say the birth rate is falling, and more people are choosing not to marry.
00:58But everyone around me really does get married.
01:06Everyone has a partner, and they date just fine.
01:09Seeing that makes me naturally want to do the same.
01:14And since this is a program in a temple, I figured more decent guys who were selected would be coming
01:20here.
01:22Organizers say interest in the program is growing, with more than 4,000 people applying for just 20 spots in
01:29this round.
01:30The retreat comes as South Korea continues to face demographic pressures.
01:35Its fertility rate rose to 0.8 babies per woman on average in 2025, from 0.75 a year earlier,
01:42marking a second straight annual increase.
01:44But that's still too low, with the government predicting South Korea will lose almost a third of its population by
01:512072.
01:52On Sunday, organizers said the weekend retreat ended with five couples successfully matched.
01:58For some participants, the dream that brought them through the temple gates might have come a little closer.
02:04For some participants, visit our website at the beginning.
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