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| Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon introduces the city government's new childcare support policies at Seoul City Hall in this Aug. 18, 2022 photo. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government |
By Ko Dong-hwan
The Seoul city government and Christian communities in Korea have agreed to cooperate to bolster children's daycare services to support families. The initiative hopes to overhaul the country's chronic low birthrate problem, which data shows is among the lowest in the world.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon signed a partnership, Friday, with Christian Broadcasting System, which was founded by a religious group in the 1950s and is the first private broadcaster in Korea. The company operates channels on TV and radio as well as online news outlet called Nocut News.
CBS has been promoting a childcare assistance campaign since 2021. The company has been hosting forums with local Christian communities to discuss ways to resolve the low birthrate problem and improve daycare services to reduce difficulties faced by parents.
Under Friday's deal signed at Seoul City Hall, churches under Presbyterian, Methodist and Evangelical Holiness denominations as well as other Christian institutions and organizations with ties to CBS are joining in the city government's initiative with the understanding that churches can make their uunsed spaces available for use as daycare facilities. District offices of the city will first seek churches in each jurisdiction to promote the project.
The city authority said the spaces provided by churches will be transformed into indoor playgrounds and daycare centers. Operations of the venues will be handled by local district offices, according to the Women and Family Policy Affairs Office under the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Local municipalities and Christian groups will also host more forums later this year to raise awareness of how the city is becoming friendlier to parents with children through better welfare services.
"We are currently determined to do literally everything to tackle this low birthrate problem," said an official at the Women and Family Policy Affairs Office of the local government.
Oh previously announced his agenda to introduce new policies to strengthen the city's welfare to better support childcare services. The initiative was launched under the slogan "Seoul, a good place to raise children."
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