The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Monday that the government would ease rules governing the establishment of child care centers and increase its financial support to them.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will be overseeing the process of deregulation to encourage the private corporate sector to build centers for their employees, the Finance Ministry said.

The ministries said that they were aiming for 70 percent of private businesses to build child care centers within their complexes by 2017, up from about 40 percent currently.

They will also increase financial support from 200 million won to 300 million won for the private sector to build them.

The government will extend incentives to those owning and operating centers that seek to expand their facilities.

Also, small and medium enterprises will receive financial support of up to 600 million won should they seek to build or purchase day care centers for their employees.

These measures come as an increasing number of working parents face a shortage of day care centers in Korea where grandparents often take care of their children while on the waiting list for enrollment.

(hkp@heraldcorp.com)