More Korean men than ever are full-time homemakers

More than a quarter of a million men in South Korea have taken themselves out of the labor force to care for children or do housework, government data showed Monday, in a possible sign that traditional gender roles in the country are changing.

Around 274,000 men were categorized in the first quarter as economically inactive — neither working nor looking for a job — due to child care or housework, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

The figure marked a 16.6 percent increase from a y ...