Korean Fatherhood Investment Dropping

The National Women`s Education Center, Japan, asked 1,000 parents of six countries, South Korea, Japan, the U.S., France, Thailand and Sweden, how much time fathers spend with their children. The targets were parents with children under the age of 12.

The results showed that the Korean fathers spent as little as 2.8 hours a day on average in 2005, the lowest figure among the countries.

Japan followed Korea with a figure of 3.1 hours, then came France with 3.8 hours, the U.S. and Sweden with 4.6 hours and Thailand 5.9 hours in order.

Korea, with 3.6 hours, had a bigger figure than Japan (3.3 hours) in the survey in 1994, but the rank was reversed for the first time in 11 years.

Mainichi Shimbun pointed to the long hours of labor as the biggest cause, writing on August 2, “The results of the survey show that the absence of fathers and the overload of child-raising on mothers in Korea and Japan are outstanding.”

Fathers who work longer than 49 hours a week turned out to be more than half, taking up to 53.4 percent in Japan and 53.0 percent in Korea. In particular, Korea ranked the highest among the six nations in the percentage of fathers who work longer than 60 hours a week (31.7 percent).

The same newspaper also pointed to the dinner-gathering culture in Korea, harsh educational fads, and high Internet penetration as other causes. The education fever is giving rise to the absence of children.

While one out of two fathers in Sweden prepare meals for their children, only one of five fathers in Korea, and one out of ten fathers in Japan do the same.

The percentage of fathers who participate in home education such as teaching their children manners was half in Japan and 60 percent in Korea, both of which were behind the figures of the U.S. and France.