When the mother, the office worker Im Ji-hyun, married Lee Yu-yong in 1997, the couple hoped to have two children regardless of gender. But they realized the plan needed a complete reconsideration after Jong-won was born.

Im's mother, who took care of Jong-won after he was born, was diagnosed with cancer about the time Jong-won celebrated his 100th birthdayand passed away a few months later. Her mother-in-law took over raising Jon-won before but gave up before long because she had to be out frequently. Im has seen many friends whose parents did not want to look after their grandchildren.

Im had to hire a live-in nanny for a monthly wage of W1 million ($850), but she left soon, saying the job was too difficult.

Over 890,000 babies below age 3 need daycare service. However, existing facilities can only accommodate 150,000, according to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Parents of over 740,000 babies are seeking babysitters by asking favors from relatives and hiring nannies. Even when there is a daycare center near home, the parents are often worried about leaving their babies in the facility, where each teacher is in charge of 10 to 15 kids.

Im was luckier than other mothers. When she transferred to a Samsung subsidiary, she could have Jong-won stay at a daycare center at work. Im says she was offered double her salary from a venture company in 2000, but she didn't even dream of taking the offer because of the daycare service Samsung offered.

Now, the couple pays W300,000 a month and leaves Jong-won at a private daycare center in Mapo District. Jong-won stays there from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the couple is always concerned that they might be too late to pick up their son on time.

About W300 billion has been allotted for childcare in the government's budget this year, or only 0.05 percent of the gross domestic product, the lowest level among OECD member countries. Norway corresponding figure is 6 percent, Sweden 2.4 percent.

Every morning at 8 a.m., working mothers start to appear at a daycare center run by Mapo District. A total of 138 children aged 2 to 6 are under the care of a principal, 12 teachers and two nutritionists. Each teacher is in charge of more than 10 students. While the environment is inferior than centers in some developed countries where the children-teacher ratio is less than five to one, Korean parents consider themselves lucky to send their children to one of the public facilities.

National and public facilities receive government subsidies, and are about W150,000 per month per child, half the price of private institutions. In addition to the cost, mothers prefer the public facilities because they receive regular inspection.

However, only 6 percent, or 1,330, of some 22,000 registered daycare centers are public. Even when not-for-profit centers run by religious organizations are combined, the figure is a mere 14 percent, far lower than Sweden's 87 percent and Japan's 58.5 percent.

Mothers tip each other off that they need to pre-register their children for a public facility even before they get pregnant. The number of public daycare centers per ward is usually one, or two if the mom is lucky. There are over 20 names on the waiting lists for infant classes at the daycare center in Mapo District, when each class can only take 10.

Among the nation's 3.73 million children under age 5, only 19 percent, or some 700,000, are enrolled at a daycare program. According to the Chosun Ilbo and Gallup Korea's joint survey on 1,033 women in their 20s and 30s, 51.2 percent said more public and at-work daycare facilities were needed, and 20 percent said the quality of facilities and teachers needs to be improved.

"While President Roh Moo-hyun said during his campaign that if we have children, the government will raise them, nothing has changed and parents are solely responsible for childcare," says Kim Eun-mi, a working mother. She says private facilities are reluctant to take babies under age 2, and getting into a public facility will take at least a year. Kim says her boy has been raised by too many different people, and it's affecting his personality.