Public day care centers should be set up and operate in new apartment complexes of more than 5,000 households, and day care centers must check whether infants are vaccinated each year, as decreed in a newly revised law.
The revised Infant Care Act, proposed by Rep. Kwon Mi-hyuk, will come into effect in the next three to six months, after it passed the National Assembly on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
(The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea)
The government had previously only recommended public day care centers be included in new apartment complexes under construction with more than 5,000 units, but was not mandatory.
According to the Ministry of Land, as of May 2017 some 5,800 day care centers in apartment complexes are in operation, but only 727 are public.
The revised law also allows for the use of state and public properties for public day care centers and work-related day care centers jointly operated by small and medium-sized businesses.
Meanwhile, the government tacked on the obligation for directors of day care centers to check whether or not infants are vaccinated once a year via the Immunization Registry Information System to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases.
By Lee So-jeong (xojeong2@heraldcorp.com)
