By Yoon Sojung

President Moon Jae-in said on Jan. 24 that his administration will bolster childcare services by increasing the number of facilities available to parents across the country.

In a visit to a childcare center in Dobong-gu District, Seoul, President Moon said that during his term in office he will increase the number of children who make use of national or public childcare centers, hoping to hit 40 percent of the child population.

In the childcare center, President Moon sat with children to watch a special magic show. He also met with Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neunghoo, childcare center teachers and parents to listen to their difficulties.

President Moon said that parents prefer national or public childcare centers because there aren't enough private sector centers that can provide off-hour childcare at an affordable price.

“The most urgent task at hand is to increase the number of children who can use national or public childcare centers,” he said.

“During my term in office, our government will increase the number of children who use a national or public childcare center to 40 percent, from the current 13 percent,” said the president.

“Last year alone, we built more than 370 new childcare centers, and we plan to build 450 new centers within this year,” said President Moon.

“We will be able to achieve our goal at the end of my term if we continue at this pace,” he added.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as of 2017 there were 3,157 national or public childcare centers across Korea, which are attended by a total of 186,916 children.

The government aims to build more than 450 new national or public childcare centers every year by 2022 in order to achieve its policy goals of helping babies and infants to grow healthily and to help parents manage home and work together.

arete@korea.kr