"Consult about Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Childcare Costs via KakaoTalk"

KakaoTalk Chatbot Service Starts from the 11th
Chat Consultation Available After Adding KakaoTalk Friend
Family Counseling Calls Surpass 70,000 Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is launching a mobile chatbot counseling service for people experiencing depression due to COVID-19 or needing consultation on family issues such as pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing expenses.

On the 10th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Healthy Family Promotion Agency announced that the family counseling hotline's "mobile chatbot chat counseling service" will operate 24 hours a day. The chatbot service consists of menus for ▲pregnancy and childbirth conflict counseling ▲child-rearing expense counseling ▲single-parent family counseling ▲family service counseling. Counseling can be done via chat with a counselor 24 hours a day.

Simply add 'Family Counseling Hotline' as a friend on KakaoTalk and select counselor chat. Through the Family Counseling Hotline (1644-6621), free psychological counseling services are available via professional counselors, and if in-depth counseling is needed, the service connects to counseling services at Healthy Family and Multicultural Family Support Centers nationwide to provide assistance.

The number of people seeking the family counseling hotline is also increasing. The number of counseling cases rose by 31.7%, from 53,649 in 2019 to 70,640 in 2020. During the Lunar New Year holiday, the family counseling hotline, KakaoTalk chatbot, and chat counseling services operate 24 hours a day.

Kim Hye-young, Director of the Korea Healthy Family Promotion Agency, said, "Through operating e-counseling channels such as mobile chatbots and chat counseling, we will expand support for the nation's 'mental quarantine' and strengthen customer-centered family counseling services so that people can more easily share their concerns anytime and anywhere when they are struggling."

Jung Young-ae, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, stated, "We will do our best to strengthen counseling for citizens experiencing psychological difficulties or family problems due to COVID-19, as well as for those conflicted about pregnancy and childbirth, and for single parents such as unmarried mothers and fathers, so that citizens can receive the necessary support in a timely manner."

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