The number of South Korean men taking childcare leave is on the rise. 

The Ministry of Employment and Labor said on Wednesday that 17-thousand-662 people in the private sector took paid paternity leave in 2018, up 46-point-seven percent from a year earlier. 

Just over ten-thousand fathers that took paternity leave last year were employed at large companies with 300 or more employees, a 37 percent increase compared to 2017.

The number of men that went on paternity leave at smaller companies with 100 to 300 employees rose almost 80 percent while companies with less than ten employees saw a 60 percent rise in paternity leave takers. 

Combined with mothers, the total number of private sector employees that took parental leave in 2018 stood at 99-thousand-199, up ten-point-one percent from a year earlier.