(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Children continue to fall victim to abuse every year but most victims return to the family member responsible for the abuse, even after it has been reported, data showed Monday.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare revealed that 37,605 cases of child abuse were reported in 2021, an increase of 70 percent from 2017.
Among the instances of child abuse, 83.7 percent were committed by parents and 86.3 percent of the cases took place at home.
In 84.6 percent of the confirmed cases, however, the victims returned to their families following the abuse, in accordance with the principle of protecting the integrity of a family stipulated in the Child Welfare Act and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The problem is that the principle comes into effect without any improvement in the environment in which the child abuse took place, exposing children to a secondary risk of abuse.
The perpetrator was only properly prosecuted in 16,096 cases of child abuse in 2021, which is less than half of all confirmed child abuse cases.
Even among them, 6,344 cases ended up with a police investigation. Only 316 cases ended up in criminal punishments.
Another 5,517 cases reported in 2021 were secondary abuse cases continuing from the previous five years, accounting for 14.7 percent of all confirmed cases of child abuse.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
