UK dads on strike for parental leave

[Anchor]

Men holding babies have come out to the streets, here in London, England.

They are calling it a "Dad Strike," but what is the story?

This is reporter Lee Hwa-jin.

[Report]

Dads with their children in strollers have come to the heart of London, taking a special day off today.

This is a "Dad Strike" demanding improvements to the parental leave system.

The legally guaranteed parental leave period for men in the UK is only 2 weeks, during which company pay is suspended, and a government subsidy of 600,000 won is all they receive.

[Participant of the UK 'Dad Strike': "It means that they're not around while their partner is recovering. It means that they don't get the chance to spend time bonding with their children."]

Ilya, the father of a son named Jacob who just turned one, works for a company with good benefits, allowing him to take more parental leave than the legally guaranteed period. But he is not sure if he will be able to do the same for his planned second child.

[Ilya/Dad on Parental Leave: "I got very lucky to basically be able to spend the time with him. And I think other fathers don't really get that opportunity."

In the UK, there is a 'Shared Parental Leave' (SPL) system that allows couples to share up to 50 weeks of leave after the father's parental leave.

However, only 1.7% of eligible men utilize this system.

This is because the application process is complicated, and the subsidy amounts to about 300,000 won per week, which is lower than the minimum wage.

The UK introduced men's parental leave 20 years ago in a progressive manner, but the duration and benefits have remained the same since then.

Recently, the total fertility rate in the UK is 1.44.

While this is higher than in South Korea, it is still low by standards of developed countries.

The UK government has decided to relax the eligibility criteria for men's leave applications this year and to review the amount of subsidies.

This is Lee Hwa-jin from KBS News in London.