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Minister Jung Young-ae of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is attending the 'Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters Meeting for COVID-19 Response' held on the 5th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is expected to establish a legal basis to oversee family policies comprehensively. However, discussions are anticipated to face difficulties as disagreements between ruling and opposition parties over the term ‘healthy family’ remain unresolved.

According to the National Assembly Legislative Information System on the 18th, recently, Seo Jeong-sook, a member of the People Power Party, has taken the lead in proposing an amendment to the Framework Act on Healthy Families. The amendment includes provisions to establish a Central Healthy Family Policy Committee under the Prime Minister and provincial committees in special and metropolitan cities. Although the Framework Act on Healthy Families was transferred from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2010, there have been criticisms that the Ministry faces limitations in independently implementing family policy projects. Seo stated, "The bill was proposed due to various issues such as family disintegration."

Specifically, the central committee will have the Prime Minister as its chairperson and the Minister of Gender Equality and Family as the vice-chairperson. It will establish the basic plan for healthy families and deliberate on development directions. Currently, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announces related basic plans every five years at the Cabinet meeting, but with the committee’s establishment, it is expected that these plans can be addressed more frequently and in greater detail.

A similar bill has also been introduced by the ruling party. In November last year, Jeong Chun-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea took the lead in proposing an amendment to the Framework Act on Healthy Families. This amendment also proposes establishing a Family Policy Committee within the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Besides the establishment of the committee, both bills similarly emphasize strengthening family and parental education and improving the capabilities of the current ‘healthy family specialists.’ However, Jeong’s bill first proposes changing the act’s title to the ‘Framework Act on Family Policy.’ It also specifies renaming ‘healthy family specialists’ to ‘family specialists.’

Therefore, the term ‘healthy family’ is expected to be a key issue in the passage of the bill. Seo’s bill keeps the term ‘healthy family’ intact while establishing the committee, effectively aiming to preserve the term. Seo explained, "The word ‘healthy’ itself is not negative," adding, "It is rather a prejudice to assume that single-parent families are not healthy."

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