By the time Kim Chang-gyu returned to Jecheon, South Korea, after four decades away to become the mayor, his hometown felt resigned to its decline. The town’s center was dotted with vacant storefronts, and local businessmen fretted about how tough it was to find workers. Like many other small South Korean cities, Jecheon, cradled at the foot of two mountain ranges, is being eroded by rapid aging and rock-bottom birthrates. Other shrinking cities have tried offering money to entice newlyweds or free housing to parents of school-age children. If he could persuade enough of them to move to Jecheon — population 130,000 and shrinking — he thought they might lay the groundwork for its future.

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Persons: Kim Chang, gyu, cradled, Kim Locations: Jecheon, South Korea, Central Asia