"People Will Enjoy a Relaxed Holiday and Consumption Will Also Revitalize"
"Survey Shows Half of Adult Men and Women Want Public Holidays"
Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, argued on May 8 that Parents' Day should also be designated as a legal public holiday.
On the 6th, Yoon stated on his Facebook, "The bill I proposed last year to designate Parents' Day as a public holiday has not yet been passed."
Yoon explained, "Recent surveys show that about half of adult men and women in our country want Parents' Day to be designated as a legal public holiday, which is 2 to 3 times higher than the results for Constitution Day or Armed Forces Day."
Recently, SK Communications' current affairs poll service 'Nate Q' conducted a survey from April 9 to 17 targeting 9,482 adult men and women, asking which national holidays or commemorative days they would like to be designated as days off. 49% (4,662 respondents) chose 'Parents' Day.'
Parents' Day has been celebrated under the name 'Mother's Day' for 17 years since 1956 and was officially designated as a legal commemorative day in 1973. However, unlike Children's Day (May 5), it is not a mandatory day off as a legal public holiday. Efforts to designate Parents' Day as a legal public holiday have been ongoing steadily for about 10 years. Former President Moon Jae-in also pledged to designate Parents' Day as a public holiday as part of elderly welfare during his 17th and 18th presidential campaigns, but all attempts failed.
Yoon cited the reason for designating Parents' Day as a public holiday as "to awaken the filial piety and respect for parents and elders, which are fading due to nuclear families, and to reflect on the meaning of family." He also emphasized, "If people use annual leave to connect Parents' Day and Children's Day in early May, the whole family can enjoy a relaxed holiday, and it will greatly contribute to economic revitalization through consumption stimulation."
Yoon also mentioned the substitute holiday system implemented since 2013. He said, "The substitute holiday system is not a system to just take a break," and explained, "It is a system to restore lost holidays for workers, increase productivity through recharging, and stimulate domestic demand by guaranteeing stable holidays, thereby revitalizing the local economy."
He added, "Since I proposed the substitute holiday bill in 2008 and it was first implemented in 2013, I have been called the 'father of substitute holidays.' I am both grateful and burdened by this title. Although there was much opposition initially, it has now been somewhat established and is showing considerable positive effects."
Yoon concluded his post by saying, "Today, looking at our society where substitute holidays have been established, I want to spend meaningful time reflecting on what true 'public interest' is."
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