Joo Hyung-hwan, vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy, speaks during a meeting at the Government Complex Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis

Korea will aim to expand paid leave for women who experience miscarriage or stillbirth and introduce a similar leave for husbands as part of statewide efforts to address the nation's low birthrate, according to officials, Wednesday.

The Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy announced that it will move forward with revising related rules to expand the leave schemes. This decision follows a meeting at the Government Complex Seoul, where committee members discussed strategies to enhance the environment for parents to have and raise children.

For women who experience a miscarriage or stillbirth before the 12th week of pregnancy, the committee plans to extend their paid leave from the current five days to 10.

"Many have pointed out that five days would not be enough for such women to recover and get ready for work," Ko Kwang-hee, general director of the committee's policy division, said. "Given that extending paid leave for women would be achievable without changing the law, people would be able to take advantage of it in the coming months."

To alleviate the financial burdens associated with this new policy, the government will provide payroll support for small businesses, officials said.

Additionally, the committee will redesign bus priority seats for pregnant women to make them more distinguishable, similar to the pink seats installed in Korean subways.

"Some bus companies operate buses with priority seats. But many users do not even know such seats exist because the signs are inconspicuous. We are going to change that," Ko said.

In another policy push, the government will help expand the number of public facilities for postpartum care in regions where women have limited or no access to such services.

Officials said they will provide financial support to local governments that establish and jointly operate care facilities. By encouraging collaboration among local offices to attract a larger number of potential customers, they aim to reduce the risk of facility closures, noting that some have been forced to shut down due to insufficient demand. Currently, there are 20 postpartum care facilities operated by local governments nationwide.

The committee also said it will introduce a rating system to ensure quality services and help customers who may find it difficult to choose reliable ones.

One of the most common complaints about government welfare programs for pregnant women and parents is that they are too complicated to navigate, making it difficult to determine what resources are available and whether individuals are eligible for certain programs. To address this issue, the committee plans to develop and launch an app that will allow users to easily find relevant information based on personalized recommendations.

So far, private companies have not been required to disclose the rate of their employees who utilize parental leave, unlike government organizations. The government plans to make this disclosure mandatory for private companies, starting with publicly listed firms.

According to data released last week by Statistics Korea, the number of babies born in Korea increased year-on-year for the second consecutive month in August. A total of 20,098 babies were born in August, marking a 5.9 percent increase, and 20,601 births were reported in July, up 7.9 percent.

While this is certainly a positive development for a country with the lowest total fertility rate in the world at 0.72, Joo Hyung-hwan, vice chairman of the committee, cautioned that it is premature to conclude that any fundamental shift is occurring.

"To keep this positive momentum going and to turn it into a fundamental, long-term growth in the birthrate, we will continue to step up efforts to ensure the strict implementation of the measures while identifying additional areas of improvement," he said.