Lotte Hosts 'mom Comfortable Festival' and Donates 500 Million Won

A Three-Day Citizen-Participatory Festival at Seoul Plaza Starting May 19

Lotte announced on May 19 that it will host the 'Lotte mom Comfortable Festival' for three days from May 19 to May 21 at the Seoul City Hall Lawn Square, in collaboration with ChildFund Korea and the Community Chest of Korea.

This event has been organized to mark the 10th anniversary of 'mom Comfortable', Lotte Group's social contribution program. Lotte designed the event as a citizen-participatory festival to raise awareness about addressing the low birth rate and improving care environments.

Lotte MOM Comfortable Festival Poster. Lotte

The opening ceremony of the 'mom Comfortable Festival', held on May 19, will be attended by key figures including Seongbok Lim, Head of Communications at Lotte Corporation, Yeojoon Yoon, Chairman of the Community Chest of Korea, Younggi Hwang, Chairman of ChildFund Korea, Jinkyeong Park, Standing Commissioner of the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy, and Changu Park, Vice Mayor of Seoul. At the event, Lotte plans to donate a total of 500 million won to ChildFund Korea and the Community Chest of Korea, aiming to help overcome the low birth rate crisis and improve the practical conditions at childcare sites.

The festival venue is divided into four zones: on the way to school, learning, play, and relaxation. In each zone, a variety of participatory programs will be offered so that citizens can experience the value of care, including safety education, children's rights education, and creative experiential activities.

Since 2017, Lotte has focused on improving child care environments through its 'mom Comfortable Dream Attic' and 'mom Comfortable Playground' initiatives. The 'mom Comfortable Dream Attic', which supports improvements to community child center environments and emotional development programs, has now expanded to 100 locations. The 'mom Comfortable Playground' project, which creates public indoor and outdoor playgrounds, opened its 32nd site in March at the Chilgok Patriots & Peace Memorial in Chilgok County, North Gyeongsang Province.

Recently, Lotte has expanded its activities beyond facility support to include efforts to improve social awareness. In February, the company established the 'Lotte mom Comfortable Family Awards' to recognize individuals and organizations contributing to the spread of healthy family culture. An award ceremony will be held on May 26, with a total prize fund of 120 million won to be awarded.

Lotte is also leading the adoption of a family-friendly corporate culture by operating practical birth and childcare support systems at the group level. In 2012, the company introduced an automatic parental leave system for women, allowing them to start parental leave immediately after maternity leave without additional approval procedures. In 2017, Lotte became the first major company in Korea to introduce mandatory paternity leave. According to last year's business report, the proportion of men taking parental leave within one year of their spouse giving birth was 96% at Lotte Himart, 71% at Lotte Corporation, and 70% at Lotte Shopping. These figures far exceed the average male parental leave usage rate of around 10% among major listed affiliates of Korea's top 10 business groups.

A representative from Lotte stated, "We hope this festival will create joyful memories for children and serve as an opportunity for adults to reflect on the value of care. We will continue to take the lead in expanding social consensus to overcome the low birth rate crisis and strive to create an environment where children can grow up healthy."

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