Starting July 22, a new leave will be established for spouses accompanying their wives for pregnancy check-ups. Additionally, female public officials in early or late pregnancy who apply for maternity protection time within a range of two hours per day must have their requests accepted by their supervisors.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Personnel Management announced on the 15th that a revision to the 'Local Public Officials' Service Regulations' containing these provisions was approved at a cabinet meeting. This revision aims to create family-friendly conditions to overcome the low birth rate.
First, male public officials accompanying their spouses to obstetric check-ups due to pregnancy will be allowed to use 'pregnancy check-up accompanying leave' within 10 days. This enables male public officials to participate in caring for their spouses from the early stages of pregnancy. Currently, female public officials can use maternity check-up leave within a range of 10 days for prenatal check-ups. However, male public officials had to use their own annual leave to accompany their spouses for pregnancy check-ups.
In addition, female public officials who are within 12 weeks of pregnancy or after 32 weeks will be required to have their maternity protection time requests approved by their supervisors. Currently, pregnant female public officials can use maternity protection time within a range of two hours per day. However, there have been criticisms as supervisors have the authority to decide on the approval of leave, limiting the freedom of use.
Furthermore, leave for a spouse's birth can now be used even before the birth occurs. Currently, spouse birth leave can be used within 120 days after childbirth (150 days for multiple births). In the future, this leave can be broadly used from 30 days before the expected date of childbirth until 120 days after.
Vice Minister Kim Min-jae said, "We will continue to improve the system so that public officials experiencing pregnancy and childbirth can feel the changes by collecting various opinions from local governments and the field."