Busan is good

“Cherished with Loving Care” Wins Maeil Business National Representative Brand Award for Second Consecutive Year as Busan’s Childcare Policies Drive Rising Birth Rates

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Busan Metropolitan City announced that “Cherished with Loving Care” was selected for the Public and Local Government Childcare Policy category at the Maeil Business “2026 National Representative Brand Awards” for the second consecutive year following last year (2025).

The “National Representative Brand Awards” are hosted by the MaeKyung Media Group and sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Representative brands are selected in each category through preliminary research, consumer surveys, and expert evaluations among approximately 760 brands.

The award ceremony will be held today (May 15) at 11:00 a.m. at the Ambassador Pullman Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul.

“Cherished with Loving Care” is a Busan-style childcare policy brand for which Busan Metropolitan City filed a patent application in 2024 as the first local government in Korea, with the goal of creating a city where it is good to have and raise children.

Centered on key strategies such as eliminating parental burdens, establishing a seamless care system, and fostering a culture of shared childcare, the brand reflects Busan’s commitment to taking public responsibility throughout every stage of raising children.

Busan Metropolitan City is actively expanding a wide range of childbirth and childcare support policies centered on “Cherished with Loving Care,” including the full implementation of Busan-style free childcare, in order to spread a happy childcare culture that parents can genuinely experience.

First, to reduce the financial burden of raising children, the city fully implemented free childcare for children aged 3 to 5 at daycare centers beginning this year (2026), providing support of 137,000 won per month for necessary expenses such as special activity fees, field trip expenses, and specialized program fees. In addition, the city is expanding preferential policies for multi-child households across various aspects of daily life, including transportation, culture, and childcare, such as educational support points and toll discounts for the Gwangan Bridge.

The city has also significantly strengthened holiday, extended-hour, nighttime, and hourly childcare services, including the operation of Busan-style 365 Open Daycare Centers, thereby establishing and operating an always-available care system that parents can use whenever needed. In February of this year, the city newly opened the “Cherished with Loving Care” Busan-style Kids Cafe inside Citizens Park and continues to expand Deullak Nallak children’s complex cultural spaces, receiving strong positive responses from parents by increasing Busan-style care and play spaces that are free of financial burden.

To expand a culture of shared childcare, the city operates 125 “Escape from Solo Parenting” childcare community teams and has strengthened citizen participation-based policies by expanding the Busan 100 Fathers Group into a 1,000 Fathers Group to encourage greater paternal involvement in childcare.

Driven by these policies, Busan Metropolitan City has achieved visible results, including increases in the total fertility rate for two consecutive years as well as higher growth rates in the number of marriages and births compared to the national average.

Busan’s childcare policies responding to the low birth rate have also received broad recognition both internally and externally, including ranking first nationwide in children’s quality of life, ranking first among metropolitan cities in the work-life balance index, receiving the Chairperson’s Commendation from the Presidential Committee for Decentralization and Balanced Development for an outstanding regional balanced development implementation plan case, and being selected for the “12 Best Policies Most Appreciated by Busan Citizens.”

Kim Kyung-duk, Acting Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “Winning the National Representative Brand Award for two consecutive years with ‘Cherished with Loving Care’ is especially meaningful because it shows that the city’s childcare policies have earned genuine empathy and trust from citizens,” adding, “We will continue to improve the quality of Busan-style care and expand free childcare policies so that through policies citizens can truly experience, we can create a city where both parents and children are happy.”