Park Geun-hye pledges after-school childcare for working couples

Korea's presidential frontrunner Park Geun-hye said Thursday she will offer after-school childcare to all working couples if she becomes president, as she sought to widen her appeal among women struggling under the dual pressures of work and family life.

The pledge came during a visit to a job counseling center for women in the southeastern port city of Busan. The ruling Saenuri Party candidate has been unveiling her policies in a series of trips to relevant facilities across the nation since announcing her presidential bid last week.

"Institutional support is very weak for a coexisting work and family life, leading women to abandon their dreams due to the pressures of childbirth and childcare," Park said.

State-sponsored home childcare services, which are currently offered to low-income working couples, will be expanded to cover all families with working parents, while after-school childcare will gradually be provided to all families, rather than just low-income households, her aides said.

"Women are the engine for the new growth of the Republic of Korea, and the issue of a coexisting work and family life does not concern only women but the entire country," Park said.

South Korea's potential first female president also suggested tax deductions for families belonging to a particular income class and a "Father's Month" for fathers to go on a one-month paid leave for the initial months after the birth of their child.

Benefits for firms with high female representation were offered as a way to help women find employment.

"Former Chairwoman Park's policy announcements have come in the order of government, education and women," said Cho Yoon-sun, a spokeswoman for Park's election camp. Park formerly served as the interim leader of the Saenuri Party. "This goes to show how much importance (she) places on policies for women."

South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, as couples are increasingly reluctant to have children without sufficient state support. In 2010, the country recorded a total fertility rate of 1.23, the lowest of the 34 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the latest available OECD data.

The total fertility rate measures the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime. (Yonhap)

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