Regarding President Lee Jae-myung's comments on social media yesterday (October 28) concerning preferential treatment for multicultural families at local government postpartum care centers, Cheong Wa Dae announced that it will "review revising the Enforcement Decree of the Mother and Child Health Act so that benefits under the preferential admission system for postpartum care centers can be prioritized for mothers with more urgent needs."

Lim Ho-geun, Cheong Wa Dae Secretary for Population Policy, issued a statement today saying, "President Lee's social media post raised the need to improve the support system into one that all childbirth families can relate to by enhancing the fairness and rationality of postpartum care center admission priorities."

He added, "The criteria in the enforcement decree defining eligible groups for preferential use of postpartum care centers were established 10 years ago, and President Lee determined that existing regulations need to be reexamined at this point in time, given that various policy support measures for multicultural families have expanded compared to the past."

He went on to state that during the process of reviewing the revision of the enforcement decree, the government will listen to various voices from the field and local governments that operate public postpartum care centers, adding, "Through this, we will establish reasonable and fair standards, while faithfully reflecting the characteristics and autonomy of local governments."

Secretary Lim also pledged, "We will closely examine the difficulties that multicultural families may still experience in Korean society and thoroughly provide support so that no blind spots emerge."

Earlier, President Lee shared a post on his social media account the previous day from the online community 'FM Korea (Femco)' arguing that it is problematic for mothers from multicultural families and mothers who are persons of national merit to both be placed in the second-priority tier under the reservation system for the 'Seoul-type Ansim Postpartum Care Center,' writing, "Thank you for the good point."

He added, "We will thoroughly review whether there is a strong need to give preferential treatment to multicultural families beyond ensuring they do not face disadvantages, and whether it is necessary to abolish the preferential system, including through consultations with local governments and revising the enforcement decree."

(Photo: Yonhap News)