Female civil servants will be allowed to take leave to rear children eight years or younger, adding two years to the current alloted period, the home affairs ministry said Wednesday.
The government will submit a revision to the National Assembly in September and the new regulations will go into effect as soon as it passes the parliament, according to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.
Mothers who are civil servants currently can use up to three years of childcare leave to care for children six years old or younger. The maximum
period for fathers is limited to one year.
Calls have mounted that the age ceiling should be raised so that mothers can stay home to raise children in lower elementary school grades to help
them adjust.
The move comes as the government struggles to fight the country's declining birthrate.
According to the latest statistics released by the World Health Organization (WHO), South Korea's birthrate -- or the average number of children born to each woman in her lifetime -- is 1.2 babies, the lowest among 193 countries and below the OECD average of 1.73.