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SEOUL – South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world, but parents say the government is not making it easier to have children while hundreds of public facilities across the country are “child-free zones.”
Earlier this month, lawmakers brought minors to the National Assembly and called on the government to ban the policy, which allows restaurants, museums, cafes and other public places to ban children from entering.
In her speech, Yong Hye-in, a representative of the Basic Income Party, said it is becoming more difficult to raise a family in cities that ban children from certain areas. Eliminating child-free zones and creating a more child-friendly society will help the country overcome low birth rates, he said.
“Life with a child is not easy,” Ms. Yong said as she held her son in the National Assembly. “However, we need to rebuild a society where we can live together with our children.”
Last year, South Korea had a birth rate of 0.78, according to government figures. Many young couples in the country are choosing not to have children due to rising care and housing costs, lack of jobs and worries about the future. For years, the government has offered incentives like monthly subsidies worth hundreds of dollars to families with children but failed to adequately address the demographic crisis.
There are hundreds of child-free zones all over South Korea. The National Library of Korea, for example, prohibits anyone under the age of 16 from entering without special permission. (Recently, some places also tried to ban parents, sparking an online debate.)
This is the second time Ms. Yong appeared in the National Assembly with her son. In the summer of 2021, she arrived with her son when he was only a few weeks old. The National Assembly prohibits anyone except assembly members and authorized personnel from entering, and it is considered a child-free zone.
Yong introduced the “National House of Assembly Child Companion Act” in 2021, calling for babies under 24 months to be allowed on the main floor of the legislature. The bill has yet to pass.
The debate over where children should and shouldn’t be allowed has been going on for years, and not just in South Korea. Angry travelers often ask why airlines don’t introduce dedicated seating for families with small children.
Some countries, including Australia and the United States, allow children to enter government buildings. The first baby was allowed to go to the floor of the Senate in Washington after Senator Tammy Duckworth, whose presence is needed to confirm the new NASA administrator, gave birth to a daughter less than two weeks before the vote in 2018.
Stella Creasy, a member of the British Parliament, was sentenced in 2021 for bringing her baby to Westminster Hall in London.
Yong was born in 1990 in Bucheon, a city on the outskirts of Seoul, and became a member of parliament in 2020. In addition to getting rid of child-free zones, he also plans to introduce legislation that would allow children and their families. to avoid lines at places like museums and amusement parks.
There are nearly 3.5 million children under the age of 10 in South Korea, and more than 11,000 public facilities designed for children to play, according to government statistics.
Public opinion on the child-free zone shows that most South Koreans support it. A 2022 survey by Hankook Research, a polling company based in Seoul, showed that 73 percent of respondents were in favor of a child-free zone, while only 18 percent were against it. (Another 9 percent of respondents were undecided).
Supporters of the policy say children can be a distraction to customers. “I usually go to cafes to study, I don’t want to be disturbed by crying children,” Lee Chan-hee, an engineering student in Seoul who frequents cafes that ban children, said in an interview this week.
Other reasons for supporting these zones include preventing accidents and property damage as well as injuries to minors. Protecting the rights of small business owners is also a consideration.
But the tide may be turning.
The push to get rid of child-free zones gained momentum last week when a health and welfare safety committee on Jeju Island – a popular tourist destination on the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula – drafted regulations that would eliminate child-free zones across the island. .
Lawmakers on the island will hold a session this month to decide whether to pass the bill. If passed, it would be the first law of its kind in South Korea.
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