ACCELERATING GENDER MINISTRY ABOLISHMENT

[Anchor Lead]

President Yoon Suk-yeol has ordered the government to quickly draw up a road map for abolishing the gender equality ministry. He made the demand during the ministry's briefing at the presidential office on Monday. Just having reaffirmed its policy to do away with the ministry, the government has failed to present detailed plans. Eyes are on if the ministry will be abolished this time.

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Abolition of the gender equality ministry. It was one of the seven key campaign promises President Yoon Suk-yeol made via social media during the election.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(President-elect(In Mar.)) : "The gender equality ministry was needed when gender discrimination was rampant in the past. But it has done its role now."

The policy was reaffirmed after the election ended and Gender Equality Minister Kim Hyun-sook took office. However no detailed plans have been devised for two months since the Yoon administration launched in May. He ordered the government to quickly draw up a road map for the abolition of the gender equality ministry.

[Soundbite] Kang In-sun(Presidential Spokesperson) : "The president ordered the gov’t to comprehensively review the gender equality ministry's functions and quickly draw up a road map for its abolition."

The envisaged abolition was not included in a report delivered by the ministry on Monday. With the president's instruction, discussions on the ministry's abolition will likely gain traction. The gender equality ministry set up a task force on its reorganization last month. However, it has not yet presented detailed measures. It is expected that pan-government consultations will likely take place soon to coordinate how to split and transfer the functions of the to-be-abolished ministry. A bumpy road lies ahead, as the main opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in parliament, is opposing the revision of the government organization act that is a precondition for the ministry's abolition. On Monday the ministry announced plans to shift its policy focus from single parent families and multicultural families to include all types of families.

[Soundbite] Kim Hyun-sook(Gender Equality Minister) : "We will provide integrated services for all family members and establish a cooperative system to discover families at risk early."

It also decided to introduce a state babysitter licensing system and increase the number of public nannies from the current 30,000 to 170,000.