People Power Party's Livelihood Policy Meeting... Joo Ho-young "Childcare Burden Must Be Reduced"

On the 9th, Meeting with the Korea Childcare Association and Disability Organizations

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] On the 9th, the People Power Party held a policy discussion meeting on livelihood policies with the Korea Childcare Association and disability organizations. This meeting was organized to directly hear the difficulties from the field and to study policy alternatives.

Joo Ho-young, the floor leader, stated at the policy discussion meeting with the Korea Childcare Association held at the National Assembly in the afternoon, “Despite investing a staggering 209 trillion won in the national budget over the past 10 years, last year’s total fertility rate was the lowest among OECD countries,” adding, “Long-term measures to reduce housing, education, and childcare burdens are necessary, and among them, efforts to expand childcare facilities and improve the quality of childcare are extremely important and must be continuously promoted.”

Joo, the floor leader, said, “Although the next year’s government budget includes 3.4 trillion won for infant care support for ages 0 to 2 and 97 billion won for expanding substitute assistant teachers, it is far from sufficient,” and added, “We will make efforts for childcare teachers’ working conditions and for the children based on voices from the field.”

Lee Jong-bae, chairman of the Policy Committee, emphasized, “The People Power Party will demand necessary budget increases and will pay special attention to ensuring a smooth and safe childcare environment at daycare centers in the future,” adding, “The safety of daycare centers and the treatment of teachers are very important issues for parents’ peace of mind.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At the livelihood policy discussion meeting with disability organizations on the same day, Floor Leader Joo said, “As the COVID-19 pandemic has prolonged, the difficulties faced by families of people with disabilities have increased more than usual,” adding, “Due to strengthened social distancing, protective facilities run by disability welfare centers were closed, increasing the burden of family care. Nevertheless, appropriate government support was not provided, and no separate budget was allocated in the four supplementary budgets this year.”

Joo said, “No tailored budget for people with disabilities to prepare for the post-COVID era has been prepared at all,” and added, “We will conduct thorough reviews at the party’s Policy Committee level and work hard to actively reflect this in the National Assembly’s budget review process.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.