Seoul City will spend 14-point-seven trillion won over the next five years to boost support for childcare. 
 
The city on Thursday announced its “Mom and Dad Happiness Project” which includes a monthly subsidy of 300-thousand won per child for grandparents and other relatives babysitting children.

Working parents who earn less than 150 percent of the country’s median income and have a child under the age of three will benefit from the program.

Next year, the city will test operate an emergency childcare service that takes a sick child to a clinic or looks after the kid temporarily in five districts. 
 
500 people will be selected next year for a guardian service to accompany children on the way to and from preschools and help them prepare school supplies. The number will increase to 800 in 2026.
 
The city will also expand the number of “Seoul kids’ cafés,” which are available at more affordable prices than privately-run kids’ zones, to 400 by 2026.

Also in the same period, the city will set up 66 “Seoul Mom and Dad VIP zones,” complete with a diaper changing station and feeding room to facilitate outings for parents with infants and toddlers. 
 
The city also plans to turn public parking spots for women into “family lots” for drivers accompanying their family next year.
 
In an effort to encourage maternity and paternity leaves, Seoul City will provide a subsidy of up to one-point-two million won to those on parental leave for six months or longer among those who make less than 150 percent of the media earnings.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the city will continue to shore up such programs to ease the financial burden of childcare on lower-income households.