Couple welcoming quintuplets to receive over W170m in childbirth grants

In a country grappling with the world’s lowest fertility rate of 0.72, the arrival of quintuplets to a couple last week has become national news, generating a flurry of articles. On Tuesday, the focus shifted to the sum of all government grants that the babies will be receiving -- totalling at least 170 million won ($128,000). Whether this is enough is now being hotly debated online.

Kim Joon-young and Sagong Hye-ran from Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, welcomed three boys and two girls on Friday, marking the first natural quintuplet birth in South Korea. Sagong works as an administrative official at a school in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, while her husband is a high school teacher in Dongducheon.

First, the city is to provide 15 million won in cash vouchers, which can be used at any store within the city with annual sales of less than 1 billion won. The city’s childbirth promotion package offers 1 million won for the first child, 1.5 million won for the second, 2.5 million won for the third and 5 million won for the fourth and beyond.

Dongducheon will also provide 3.5 million won in postnatal care support, also in the form of cash vouchers.

Separately, the couple is eligible for the Welfare Ministry’s one-off First Meeting Voucher worth 14 million won, on top of two monthly subsidies -- a parental allowance and children’s allowance -- which amount to 85 million won and 47.5 million won, respectively, spread over the duration of the programs.

The First Meeting Voucher entails a lump-sum grant for parents upon having a baby, with 2 million won provided for the first child and 3 million won for the second and beyond.

The parental allowance, introduced in January last year, offers 1 million won per month per child for the first 11 months following birth, followed by 500,000 won per month for the next 11 months.

The parents will also receive a children's allowance of 100,000 won per month for each child from birth until the child reaches 95 months.