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Starting next year, monthly parental leave payments will increase to a maximum of two-point-five million won, or around one-thousand-900 U.S. dollars, from the current upper limit of one-point-five million won.
The labor ministry issued a notice Tuesday, and the related enforcement ordinances are set to undergo revision between Thursday and November 19.
The upper limits for parental leave payments will be two-point-five million won per month during the first three months, two million won per month for the next three months, and one-point-six million won per month starting in the seventh month.
Over a full year, a worker who takes parental leave can receive up to 23-point-one million won, with the exact amounts based on the worker’s ordinary wages.
The ministry is abolishing the current practice of withholding 25 percent of the funds until six months after the person returns to the workplace.
To ease the burden on small and midsize businesses, the government will provide funding to hire replacement workers, increasing an existing subsidy from the current 800-thousand won per month to one-point-two million won per month.