(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of child abuse cases in which the South Korean police took action last year rose 23.5 percent from 2016 to 3,696 in 2018, including 278 cases that took place at day care centers for kids, police data showed Monday.
The data, submitted by the National Police Agency to ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Young-ho for a parliamentary audit, revealed that 12,853 child abuse cases were reported to police last year, up from 12,619 in 2017 and 10,830 in 2016.
In the January-August period this year, the number of child abuse cases reported to police came to 9,653.
By region, southern Gyeonggi Province topped the list of the reported cases with 3,023, followed by Seoul with 2,131 and Incheon with 1,256.
Kim called for revising related laws on anti-child abuse and strengthening punishment for people who abuse children.
(Yonhap)
