Go-oon-mahm Card

I have had the last 5 days off of school. Tomorrow makes day 6 and then I return to school on Wednesday. Pregnancy has made me really lazy, at least when it comes to cleaning, grocery shopping, and running errands. The first trimester I had an excuse, but now it is just getting ridiculous. I keep waiting for that "nesting" urge to kick in so that I will have some motivation to clean my apartment, but I am starting to worry that it isn't going to happen. During the last 5 days, there has only been one item on my to do list: go to the local Kookmin Bank and complete the application for the Go-oon-mahm Card. Today was the last possible day I could go without taking time off work, and I still barely made it out the door. It didn't help that the weather was dark and dreary, threatening thunder and lightening at any moment.

The Go-oon-mahm Card is one of the perks of having our baby in Korea. The Korean government offers every pregnant woman in Korea (including foreign residents) 400,000 won (about $370 USD) to help cover the costs of prenatal care. 60,000 won (about $55 USD) can be used at every appointment. I have heard you can also use it towards birthing expenses, but I haven't confirmed that information. I have 6-8 prenatal appointments remaining, as long as my pregnancy remains low risk, so I am pretty sure we will use it all up by the time the baby decides to arrive.

Korea offers this card as an incentive for women to have more children. Just like Japan, Korea's population is aging. Women are choosing to have a career over a husband and a family, and Korea's birthrate is plummeting. Though Korea is one of the most densely populated countries in the world (55 million people in a country the size of Indiana), the decreasing birthrate will cause huge problems in the future. Without a young (tax-paying) population, there is no way Korea will be able to sustain their current healthcare and pension system long-term, so the financial incentive is one way they are trying to combat this looming problem.

In some ways Korea is a great place to have a baby, particularly for those who work in the public sector. Women can take a 60 day paid maternity leave, and an additional 30 days at half-salary. Unfortunately, most women will tell you that the rights of women are far from equal to those of men. Many women are told they will be fired if they get pregnant, and there are few legal protections in place to keep this from happening. While the financial incentive is nice, unless Korea targets the social problems keeping women from having children, I don't expect that it will make much of a dent in increasing their birthrate.

As I made my way towards where I thought the bank was (I had never actually been to this bank), I felt slightly guilty that I was going to apply for the card. Considering we are leaving Korea as soon as we can after the baby is born and our baby will be an American citizen, I am not really the type of applicant the card is intended for. I kept reminding myself that I pay into both the healthcare and pension system in Korea, therefore I qualify for the financial assistance.

I was able to find a branch of the bank after a short walk through the area of Guri (the town where we live) that has just about every business that exists in South Korea. I took a number and waited 20-30 minutes before my number was called. I always get nervous anytime I have to interact with Koreans outside of my school. My Korean is very limited, particularly my speaking ability. I feel guilty using English because I am living and working in their country, but expecting them to use my language. Fortunately, the man who helped me spoke English very well. He tried to use Korean with me at first, but after I in told him in Korean that I couldn't speak much Korean, he kindly switched to English. Koreans are very modest about their ability to speak English, but almost all of them have studied English in school and can understand and read it when they need to.

The whole process was quick and simple, and I felt pretty silly afterwards that I had been anxious about going. The card should arrive in 5-6 days, plenty of time before my next doctor's appointment. The best part- it didn't rain, especially considering I forgot my good umbrella at the home of the woman hosting our birthing classes.