A father carries a child through a water playground in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
Korea will introduce short-term parental leave, expand spousal leave around pregnancy and miscarriage and toughen penalties for wage theft as part of a broad package of social policy changes coming into force in the second half of this year.
Government ministries on Tuesday announced a six-month policy package spanning family-friendly workplace rules, rail services, weather forecasting and disaster alerts.
From Aug. 20, workers who have children aged eight or younger will be able to take one- to two-week blocks of child care leave once a year. The new option is designed for short-term care needs during school holidays or temporary closures of child care facilities, and allow parents to split their child care leave into shorter segments instead of only using it in lengthy stretches.
Officials hope this flexibility will encourage more male employees at small firms to actually use parental leave rather than forgoing it due to workplace pressures.
