“The Same Rights, Wherever You Live”: Korea Calls for a National Law on Child Friendly Cities
At a policy forum in the National Assembly, members of parliament, local governments, experts and children discussed how national legislation could make child-friendly cities sustainable and close regional gaps across Korea.
To mark the global 30th anniversary of UNICEF’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI), the Korean Committee for UNICEF held a policy forum on 17 September 2026 at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building in Seoul. It was titled “Exploring Legal and Institutional Support for Sustainable Child-Friendly Cities” and co-hosted with the Association for the Promotion of UNICEF Child Friendly Cities (APUCFC) and eight Members of the National Assembly. Parliamentarians, local government officials, researchers, legal experts, journalists and children came together to discuss one question: how can every child in Korea enjoy a child-friendly environment, whatever the neighbourhood they grow up in?
Korea’s experience with the initiative has grown quickly. Seongbuk-gu in Seoul became the first participating local government in 2013. Thirteen years later, 129 of the country’s 243 local governments are involved: 113 are certified and 16 are working towards recognition. Without a national legal framework, however, concerns have grown that children’s rights and living conditions increasingly depend on each local government’s commitment, finances and administrative capacity.
A bill to make child-friendly cities a shared national responsibility
The forum was held after an amendment to the Child Welfare Act was introduced on 8 September. Its lead sponsor is Kim Young-bae, a Member of the National Assembly who was mayor of Seongbuk-gu when it became Korea’s first certified Child Friendly City. Until now, local governments have done most of the work of creating a child-friendly environment. The amendment makes it a shared responsibility of national and local governments. It would require the Minister of Health and Welfare to set standards and a development plan for child-friendly cities. It would also give local governments a legal basis for their action plans, backed by financial and administrative support from the government.
“There should be no difference in the rights and growing-up environment children enjoy, wherever they live. Rather than seeing children merely as targets of policy, for example by simply adding more facilities, we must establish national standards and support systems that create an environment respecting children as rights holders and citizens.”
— Kim Young-bae, Member of the National Assembly
Fellow Members of the National Assembly Ko Min-jung and Son Myung-soo also spoke at the opening. Ko Min-jung called for national systems and budgets to reduce regional gaps. Son Myung-soo argued that infrastructure gaps between urban and rural areas must never turn into discrimination in children’s daily lives. Yoo Hee-tae, Mayor of Wanju County and President of the Association for the Promotion of UNICEF Child Friendly Cities (APUCFC), and Carla Haddad Mardini, UNICEF Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships, sent video messages congratulating Korea on its rapid progress.
Beyond local goodwill
The keynote was given by Ryu Hyun, Director of Child Rights at the Korean Committee for UNICEF. She presented the CFCI as a framework for putting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into practice at the local level, and described how it has grown since 1996 to some 3,000 cities in 35 countries. She cited Austria, Iceland and the Philippines as countries that already support child-friendly cities through legislation. She also stressed that sustainability requires monitoring and performance management after certification.
“For child-friendly cities to take root sustainably rather than depending solely on local will, a national legal and institutional foundation is needed.”
— Ryu Hyun, Director of Child Rights, Korean Committee for UNICEF
Voices from the field, starting with children
The panel was moderated by Professor Chung Ick-joong of Ewha Womans University. The first speaker was Seo Min-ji, a child representative from the Seongbuk-gu Children’s Participation Committee. She called for participation that changes policy rather than stopping at token consultation, and for channels that take children’s views into account continuously, not only at one-off events. “I hope that ‘the same child-friendly city, the same rights’ will be guaranteed regardless of where children live or how old they are,” she said.
Other panellists described the challenges on the ground:
- Kim Bo-ram, CFC Specialist Officer, Pyeongtaek City: job rotation among officials disrupts continuity, so cities need dedicated, specialised staff.
- Lee Ba-ul, Secretary-General of the Association for the Promotion of UNICEF Child Friendly Cities (APUCFC): speaking for its 101 member local governments, she proposed a consultative body bringing together the government, UNICEF and the Association.
- Lee Yun-ju, National Youth Policy Institute: research shows certified cities have substantially increased their child-friendly programmes and budgets compared with non-certified cities.
- Bae Geon-i, Korea Legislation Research Institute: set out legal considerations for the future Enforcement Decree.
- Jin Yu-jeong, CBS journalist: regional differences are “not a matter of policy capacity but of institutional design.”
Park Chan-soo, Director of the Child Policy Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, gave the government’s position. He agreed that regional gaps exist and that a legal basis is needed, and said the government would review related measures. He added that the system’s purpose and goals should be defined first, with certification as one of several evaluation elements.
During the Q&A, a participant pointed out that most children are at school during working hours, which limits their participation. Ryu Hyun replied by presenting the “City to School” programme, which links child participation with schools, and committed to further cooperation with the Ministry of Education.
The way forward
The forum ended with four recommendations:
- Establish a national legal basis for child-friendly environments.
- Build financial and administrative support to reduce regional gaps.
- Develop performance management and lasting cooperation so the initiative brings real change beyond certification.
- Expand child participation through schools, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.
The Korean Committee for UNICEF will continue working with the National Assembly, the government and local governments so that the initiative improves the everyday lives of all children.
“Rather than resting on 30 years of achievements, we will do our utmost to build better child-friendly cities so that every child, wherever they live, can fully enjoy their rights.”
— Kumjoo Huh, Executive Director, Korean Committee for UNICEF
