Starting next month, South Korea will allow new fathers to take extra time off work for child care.<br />The government will also provide an additional 30 days of unemployment benefits to those without a job.<br />Our Kim Jae-hee has the details.<br />Currently, new dads in South Korea can take up to five days of paternity leave,… which includes three days of paid leave.<br />However starting next month, the maximum period of paternity leave in South Korea will be raised from 5 days to 10 days,... with full pay for the entire duration.<br />The application deadline will also be extended, to 90 days after the birth of the child, from the current 30 days.<br />Also, instead of going on leave for a single, uninterrupted stretch,... fathers will now be able to divide them into two separate time periods.<br />The revised law also includes measures to further reduce the working hours of new mothers.<br />Although the current law allows shorter working hours for a maximum of one year,... mothers weren't afforded any additional time off,... if they had already taken a year off for maternity leave.<br />The new measures will allow mothers of children under the age of eight... to request shorter working hours for a period of one year,... even after returning from maternity leave.<br />"The ministry has allowed the reduction of working hours for up to two years for the mothers, and has extended the paid leave period for the fathers."<br />In a separate move,... the duration of unemployment benefits payment will also be extended by thirty days starting October first.<br />Unemployment benefits will now be offered for a maximum of 270 days, dependent on the recipient's age and his or her enrollment in employment insurance.<br />Payments will also be raised from the current fifty percent to sixty percent of the country's average wage,… but the hard cap will remain unchanged at 66-thousand Korean won per day,... which is around 55 U.S. dollars.<br />Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.<br />
