Lee Nak-yeon "Full Coverage for Morning Sickness Treatment and Postpartum Helper Support for Single and Teenage Parents"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Former leader and Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Nak-yeon announced follow-up policies for low birthrate, targeting support for pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting for unmarried single parents and teenage parents.

On the 14th, Lee held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office to announce his pledge for unmarried single parents and teenage parents, stating, "I want to give the belief that the state can protect my life and my child, rather than making them suffer from social prejudice and discrimination as 'abnormal families,'" and emphasized, "We will create a nation and society where children born can be happy with their parents."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee promised to first expand support during the pregnancy stage by fully covering the cost of morning sickness treatment for unmarried and teenage pregnant women, and to increase the number of basic living support facilities among welfare facilities for unmarried mother families from the current 22 nationwide to at least 40 by 2030, while extending the protection period from the current 1 year (with a possible 6-month extension) to a maximum of 2 years.

Next, to expand support during the childbirth stage, he plans to provide postpartum care workers 'unconditionally' to unmarried single parents and teenage parents. In particular, the government-supported postpartum care worker program will abolish income criteria for unmarried single parents and teenage parents to increase support.

He also revealed plans to make support during the parenting stage more realistic. In child-rearing cost support, the recognized income threshold for unmarried single parents will be raised from the current 52% of median income or less to 60% or less, and for teenage parents from the current 60% or less to 70% or less, to provide additional help in raising children. Furthermore, the priority for daycare center admission under the Infant Care Act will remove income distinctions for single-parent families, and teenage parents will be assigned first priority for schooling and other reasons.

Especially, if child support obligations are not fulfilled, the state will first provide child support and then recover the amount from the child support debtor through a full implementation of the child support advance payment system.

For unmarried fathers fulfilling military service obligations (active reserve duty), support will be promoted through new welfare measures for all-day elementary school systems, flexible working hours, and daycare center use. In the mid to long term, linked with defense reform such as a volunteer military system, the designation of military service exemption candidates will be reviewed through social consensus.

Along with this, Lee announced plans to expand support during the independence stage by giving teenage parents priority for public rental housing occupancy, and to support unmarried single parents and teenage parents to move in without a deposit by utilizing a public guarantee system when entering public rental housing.

Additionally, support for teenage parents will include not only teenage parents but also teenage unmarried fathers, cohabiting couples who are not legally married, legal marriages, and their children, and a dedicated organization for teenage parents will be established to improve the current problem of dispersed support targets and policies for teenage parents.

Lee said, "The policies proposed today cannot solve all the difficulties of single parents and teenage parents, but I want to offer a small hope."

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