What the Korean leave is

Korea's childcare leave (육아휴직) is a job-protected leave under the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, Article 19. It is generally one year for each parent for each child, and can run to one year and six months in cases the statute names. The child is generally eight or younger, or in the second year of elementary school or below.

The Korean source is a family-policy assignment on definitions, pay, length, and eligibility. Use it for the structure of the questions, and use the official Act and MOEL notices for the live figures.

How the benefit is paid, as currently described

The leave benefit is an employment-insurance payment under the Employment Insurance Act, Article 70, not a figure invented in a classroom packet. A common eligibility condition is 180 insured days.

From 1 January 2025, official general bands have been described as 100% of ordinary wages for months 1–3 with a monthly cap of ₩2.5 million; 100% for months 4–6 with a cap of ₩2.0 million; 80% from month 7 with a cap of ₩1.6 million; and a floor of ₩700,000. Do not repeat an older assignment rate such as an unsourced 61%. Named special programs can have different official rules; quote those only from a current MOEL page.

How this compares with other systems

In the United States, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act generally offers eligible employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave; paid family leave, where it exists, is a state or employer rule, not a single national insurance benefit. Japan has childcare leave under its childcare and nursing-care leave law, with employment-insurance benefits described on official ministry pages. China sets maternity leave in national and local rules, and some localities add parental days; quote only a named official text. Gulf labor laws differ by country on maternity and paternity leave, and eligibility for foreign workers is a local official rule.

Compare official length and pay rules.

Limits

Caps, floors, special programs, and the child's age rule change. This page explains the public system; the live rules are on the official ministry pages.

Sources

1. Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, Article 19, as officially published, on childcare (parental) leave.
2. Employment Insurance Act, Article 70, and Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) / gov.kr notices on childcare-leave benefits. From 1 January 2025, general payment bands have been described officially as: months 1–3 at 100% with a monthly cap of ₩2.5 million; months 4–6 at 100% with a cap of ₩2.0 million; month 7 onward at 80% with a cap of ₩1.6 million; and a floor of ₩700,000. Confirm the live MOEL page; do not use older assignment figures such as an unsourced 61% rate.
3. Ordinary eligibility as officially described: generally one year per parent per child (up to one year and six months in named cases); the child generally aged 8 or younger, or in grade 2 or below; 180 insured days under employment insurance. Check the live rule for exceptions.

Last updated: November 13, 2026

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