저출산,고령화 사회와 입법적 과제 누리과정과 보육정책에 대한 법적 쟁점과 개선방안 = A Study on Legal Issues of the Childcare Policy and Nuri-Curriculum

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

It can be said that the low birthrate problem is the common issue for all mankind. That is to say, not only South Korea but also many developed countries are facing the challenge associated with the low birthrate problem in line with an aging society. Just a few decades ago, the population control policy (the so-called “birth control” policy) was a top policy priority for many governments all around the world. However, the recent change in the population structure led by the decreasing young population and the growing elderly population will likely cause many serious problems at the national level in the future. On that account, many efforts are being made to encourage childbirth. In particular, the Korean government has been seeking for diverse measures to address the low birthrate problem since long ago. These measures include the childcare policy. However, the Korean government has yet to see the full effect of these measures albeit its massive spending on the facilities and systems for infants. Currently, the governmental departments have established and implementing their respective relevant statutory provisions in relation to the infant support projects. However, these legal systems have a different policy goal, thereby causing conflicts between the governmental departments. To make matters worse, similar projects are conducted redundantly; thus, a large portion of the government budget is wasted on the unnecessary expenses. Hence, it is necessary to mediate between the governmental departments by taking the details of support projects and the similarities thereof. In particular, the rapidly expanding free childcare policy has caused the problem of budget deficit. Currently, the central government and the local governments are fiercely disputing over the Nuri-Curriculum budget issue. The more important issue is that those children of vulnerable social group such as children with disabilities and children of near poverty group, who had not had any problem with receiving benefits before the implementation of free childcare, are now suffering directly from the aforementioned dispute between the central government and local governments. Germany recently found it appropriate to promote actual equality through the expansion of public facilities rather than simply providing financial support such as parenting allowance on the basis of the recent decision of its Constitutional Court. Japan is making efforts to prevent redundant projects and make the financial support more efficient by integrating the financial aspects and project implementation issues into a single low. This article examined diverse problems from a legal aspect as to Korea`s childcare policies. Moreover, this article reviewed the constraints and problems associated with the current Nuri-Curriculum and free childcare policy. Lastly, this article studied the improvement measures on the basis of the similar cases in Germany and Japan.