Search for “parenting” on Naver, South Korea’s largest web portal, and you'll be met with more than 50,000 online communities. The overwhelming majority shares one word in their names: “mom.”
Known as “mom cafes,” these hyperlocal online platforms have become vital lifelines for new and seasoned mothers alike. Serving as the kind of village it takes to raise a child, these communities offer everything from parenting advice and emotional support to emergency help — and the occasional unsolicited opinion.
You post at 2 a.m. about your baby’s sudden fever. Within minutes, someone still awake replies with tips or points you to a neighborhood convenience store or late-night pharmacy where you can find pain reducers. Looking for a kid-friendly restaurant? Ask away, and local moms will drop names, menus and whether it has a baby chair.
“Mom cafes are my go-to for parenting advice, just like a portal site,” said Han So-wol, 33, a stay-at-home mother raising a two-year-old son. “Since some members are doctors, I even post photos of symptoms before going to the hospital. We also swap opinions on parenting books, especially about disciplining toddlers.”
But while mom cafes offer a wealth of information and connection, they’re not always welcoming. Many maintain strict exclusivity, limiting membership to mothers living in specific neighborhoods. Even dads are not allowed.
Of the thousands of mom cafes on Naver, The Korea Herald found only one that allows male members: a small Incheon-based group run by fathers, with around 1,000 members.
For this, Seong, 45, who runs a mom cafe in Seoul’s Dongjak-gu District, told The Korea Herald: “There was a case where someone left inappropriate comments on photos of baby girls, even photoshopping them in disturbing ways. Of course, not all men behave that way, but to be safe, many cafes ban male members altogether.”
Though these spaces are designed for parenting support, the discussions often veer deeply personal — sometimes uncomfortably so. Scroll through the forums and you’ll find posts about family arguments, marital woes and intimate confessions. Type “genius” into the search bar, and you’re likely to encounter threads where ordinary developmental milestones are celebrated with overzealous pride, and comparisons run rampant.
And in rare but troubling instances, the consequences go far beyond gossip.
In 2021, a mom cafe based in Dongtan, Gyeonggi Province, was accused of fueling unverified child abuse rumors about a local day care center. Before police could complete their investigation, the day care’s director reportedly died by suicide.
Despite these darker corners, mom cafes continue to thrive as digital lifelines for moms navigating postpartum life, often in isolation and under pressure.
So, to the foreign moms-to-be in Korea: Don’t stress too much about postpartum life. Mom cafes are here to help (if you’re okay with no dads, a bit of bragging, gossip and rumors).
