Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jae-kap said that the employment rate for women is the highest in nearly 20 years and promised stronger efforts to support work-life balance for working mothers.

The minister made the comments on Friday while visiting Woowa Brothers Corporation, a small to medium-sized firm in Seoul that operates a popular local delivery app called Baedal Minjok, which translates roughly to "the delivery people."

Meeting with company officials and employees, Lee said that despite talk of tight job conditions, the female employment rate has been steadily rising. 

The female employment rate stood at 57-point-five percent as of April, the highest level since 2000.

Lee said that compared to the same month last year, the number of working age women in the population dropped by 28-thousand, but that the number of employed rose by 56-thousand.

As such numbers are on the rise, the labor chief stressed the importance of  legal and institutional support to normalize a culture of flexible work hours and childcare support.

The minister stressed the need to revise laws on state support to achieve gender equality in employment as well as work-life balance.