their job skills and capacities for child support in a stable way, it is necessary to improve their employment terms and conditions. In February 2019, the NHRCK recommended the Minister of Health and Welfare to take an action to ensure that no wage gap exists between the staff in child-rearing facilities and the staff in group homes. 112. The Government should ensure that no wage gap exists among the workers in child welfare facilities who work for the same purpose with the same job qualifications lest such gap in employment terms and conditions should lead to any gap in child protection. Issue 31. Children obliged to pay contributions to the National Health Insurance 113. In order to guarantee people's rights to health and health care, the Republic of Korea runs the National Health Insurance which is a social insurance, and the medical benefit system which is a public assistance program. The subscribers to the National Health Insurance are divided into the company-based subscribers who pay their insurance contributions through their company and the region-based subscribers. The amount of insurance contribution for a company-based subscriber is based on his/her earned income, while that for a region-based subscriber is based on the incomes and properties of all household members and the living condition of the household. 114. A minor dependent of a company-based subscriber is not liable to pay a contribution to the National Health Insurance, while a minor dependent of a region-based subscriber is jointly liable for such contribution because it is provided that, in the case of a region-based subscription, all of the household members are jointly liable to pay the insurance contributions. The consequence is that, if the adult head of a household fails to pay any region-based contribution in time, a child member of the household may have to pay the overdue contribution. 115. In such case as is mentioned above, the Government currently imposes the obligation to pay the overdue contribution only on the children who have a certain or higher level of household income. In this regard, in February 2019, the NHRCK recommended the Government to completely remove the children's joint liability to pay National Health Insurance contributions, but the Government refused to accept the recommendation. 116. In light of the principle of social solidarity, children should be beneficiaries of social security programs and the liability to pay National Health Insurance contributions should not be imposed on any child. Accordingly, the NHRCK recommends that the Government should repeal the law provision which imposes the liability on children. 28