Joo Hyung-hwan Visits Emergency and Niche Childcare Sites, Promises to Triple Part-Time Childcare Facilities

Visiting Dongbinggo Daycare Center to Hear Teachers' and Parents' On-site Opinions

Joo Hyung-hwan, Vice Chairman of the Low Birthrate and Aging Society Committee, visited Dongbinggo Daycare Center, which operates the 365 Open Daycare Center, on the 22nd to hear opinions from the field. (Photo by Low Birthrate and Aging Society Committee)

Joo Hyeong-hwan, Vice Chairman of the Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee (Jeogowi), visited Dongbinggo Daycare Center on the 22nd to hear opinions from the field. Dongbinggo Daycare Center is a 365-open daycare center, operated by Seoul City, providing 24-hour childcare and meals for 35 days to children aged 6 months to preschoolers who require emergency care.

This field visit follows the announcement of the "Measures to Reverse the Low Birthrate Trend" on the 19th and is a hands-on approach to the issue. Since the announcement, Vice Chairman Joo has been sequentially visiting sites related to the three core areas: work-family balance, childcare, and housing. On the 20th, he visited Logpresso Co., Ltd. in Mapo-gu, Seoul, a workplace promoting work-family balance.

On this day, a single parent using holiday care services met Vice Chairman Joo and said, "When I suddenly have to work on weekends, I cannot take my children with me, but I often use this service because I can leave my children safely and handle work quickly." They added, "I hope such services will be provided in more places."

Another parent said, "My eldest child, who is in the 3rd grade of elementary school, attends a sports club on weekends, but it was difficult to bring my much younger child along, so I started using this service." They added, "Having holiday care has given me the opportunity to provide childcare tailored to each child's needs."

The government announced plans to more than triple the number of part-time childcare providers from 1,030 classes in 2023 to 3,600 classes by 2027 to meet niche childcare demands. Support for childcare costs will also be expanded to increase nighttime extended care and holiday care.

Incentives for win-win daycare centers operated by large corporations and local governments will also be expanded. Vice Chairman Joo emphasized, "We plan to increase operational and personnel cost support for win-win workplace daycare centers established and operated by large corporations and local governments, expand corporate incentives such as preferential government awards, and expand high-quality childcare facilities accessible to children of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises."

He added, "Support will also be expanded for essential infrastructure such as daycare centers for children with disabilities and infants, which are difficult to operate due to high care complexity. We will increase the number of specialized and integrated daycare centers for children with disabilities by 80 each year, raise childcare fees for children with disabilities, and expand support for salaries and allowances for special teachers, childcare teachers for children with disabilities, and therapists."

The committee stated that it will continue on-site activities to ensure that the current measures work well in the field and to check and supplement them to meet the real needs of users.

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