To arrange parental leave in Korea, submit a leave request to your employer and separately check the employment-insurance benefit process. An approved absence and an approved government payment are different decisions. Foreign employees should confirm their own insurance record before budgeting around a benefit.
Checked October 28, 2026. This guide covers planned standard parental leave, called 육아휴직. It is separate from childbirth recovery leave, a reduced working schedule, and brief family-care absences.
Check the child, employment, and leave history first
MOEL's current parental-leave guidance covers employees with a child aged eight or younger or in elementary school grade two or below. The employer may refuse if continuous service is under six months. Standard leave is up to one year; an additional six months depends on specified conditions, such as both parents using at least three months, single-parent status, or a child with a severe disability. Check the condition that actually applies to you.
Before choosing dates, list previous leave for the same child, any current maternity leave, your proposed start and end dates, and your partner's relevant leave history. Ask HR to confirm the remaining allowance in writing. A colleague's approval or a different family's allowance does not establish yours.
Send a dated request to the employer
The same MOEL guide describes a standard request at least 30 days before the proposed start, with shorter notice for certain urgent circumstances. Include your name, the child's name and date of birth, the leave dates, and the application date. Ask which company form and supporting evidence are required.
I would like to request 육아휴직 from [start] to [end] for [child's name/date of birth]. Please confirm the required documents, my remaining leave allowance, and the contact responsible for submitting the leave confirmation for benefits.
Keep the request and the employer's response together. Arrange handover responsibilities separately: unresolved handover details should be identified clearly, rather than left as a vague agreement that you will remain available throughout leave.
Prepare the benefit application separately
For the standard benefit route, MOEL lists at least 30 days of qualifying leave and at least 180 insured qualifying days before leave begins. These insured days are not simply six calendar months. The application window runs from one month after leave starts until 12 months after it ends. Confirm your individual coverage and timing with the employment center.
Use official Work24 for the application. Ask whether HR has submitted the leave confirmation, and prepare the requested wage evidence and information about payments received during leave. Download your payslips and their wage breakdown while you still have access. Keep an application receipt and respond to requests for missing documents.
If you only need a short interruption
Do not assume every parental-leave payment requires a month away. MOEL now describes a separate short-term parental-leave route for qualifying care gaps, using one or two weeks. Its reasons and application rules are specific; an ordinary short absence does not automatically qualify.
If HR refuses your request or the insurance record is unclear, take the dates, written response, contract, and coverage question to MOEL or the employment center. Request a case-specific explanation before changing the plan.
Source timing: current MOEL guidance checked October 28, 2026. MOEL's July 13, 2026 announcement identifies August 20, 2026 as the effective date of the short-term parental-leave route. Benefit caps are omitted because entitlement and the applicable payment route must be established first.
Updated October 29, 2026: Clarified the August 20 short-term parental leave effective date and added the official announcement source.
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