What’s new in Korea in 2nd half of 2026: 1-week parental leave, unified rail app and more

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.

Spousal leave rules will also be relaxed. From Sept. 18, men will be allowed to take spousal maternity leave starting up to 50 days before their partner’s due date, instead of only after the birth. If the pregnant spouse faces risks such as preterm labor, the husband will be able to use child care leave even before the child is born.

A new system of spousal miscarriage and stillbirth leave will be created, with up to five days available, with the first three days paid.

Support for infertility treatment leave will be strengthened as well. Currently, only two of the six annual days of infertility treatment leave are paid, but the government will double the paid portion to four days. The maximum daily benefit will be 336,840 won ($220).

Smarter public services

On the enforcement side, penalties for employers who fail to pay wages will be significantly increased. Currently, an employer who commits wage theft faces up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won. From October, the maximum sentence will be five years in prison or a 50 million won fine.

Worker participation in industrial safety will also be encouraged through incentives. Under a voluntary reporting scheme, anyone who reports violations of safety rules will be eligible for rewards of up to 5 million won per case.

An SRT high-speed train prepares to depart from Seoul Station, Feb. 3. Korea Times photo by Lim Ji-hoon

A unified high-speed rail app, covering both KTX and SRT services, will launch in August so that users can search, reserve and buy tickets for all trains in one place instead of juggling separate apps and websites.

Starting Nov. 12, mid-range forecasts for six to 11 days ahead will no longer be limited to provincewide daily outlooks. Instead, they will be broken down into three- to six-hour intervals and mapped onto a precise 5 kilometers by 5 kilometers grid, improving local accuracy.

Disaster text alerts will also be revised to alleviate fatigue from excessive and overlapping messages. Expanding the character limit from 90 to 157 will enable the delivery of more precise information, while an automated duplication check will stop identical alerts from being repeatedly sent to the same users.

Starting next month, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will begin a “period products for all” pilot program, installing free sanitary pads in public facilities in 12 localities, including districts in Seoul and cities and counties across Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang provinces and Jeju Island. Previously, free sanitary pads were limited to vulnerable girls aged 9 to 24, but the trial scheme will extend access to all women regardless of income levels.