Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to Hire 'Nth Room Counselors' Regardless of Experience or Major

'Non-face-to-face and Digital Jobs' Digital Sexual Violence Counselor Recruitment
Only 100 Hours of Training Required to Apply for Government Agency Counselor Positions
"Concerns Over Secondary Victimization" "Excessive Bureaucracy and Budget Waste" Criticisms Pour In
870 Million KRW Supplementary Budget Allocated... Focused Solely on Recruiting Applicants and Creating Jobs

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] "Allowing someone to work as a 'Digital Sexual Violence Counselor' after completing only 100 hours of training is tantamount to entrusting the job to inexperienced beginners and shows no consideration for the victims' suffering."

Flaws in the government's non-face-to-face and digital job initiatives, promoted as part of the 'Korean New Deal' policy, are increasingly coming to light. This time, the issue concerns the digital sexual violence counselor positions under the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's (MOGEF) third supplementary budget. The Korea Women's Human Rights Institute, an affiliate of MOGEF, recently announced the recruitment of a total of 50 counselors, including 18 for responding to digital sexual crime victims. This job project allocates approximately 870 million KRW from the supplementary budget for personnel and operational expenses. The counselors are tasked with consulting and preventing various sexual violence incidents occurring in internet and SNS spaces, such as child and adolescent illegal sexual exploitation materials like the Nth Room case, revenge porn, illegal filming, and acquaintance humiliation.

However, the qualification requirements for digital sexual violence counselors are simple. Applicants only need to have completed at least one counseling certification related to domestic violence, sexual violence, or prostitution. The counseling certification can be obtained by completing a 100-hour training course covering counseling theory and relevant laws. Industry insiders point out that this is equivalent to entrusting digital sexual crime victim counseling to 'beginners' without related majors or experience. It is hard to avoid criticism that the government prioritized job creation without properly considering the qualifications necessary for the work.

A, who has worked for years at the Sunflower Center, a support institution for sexual violence victims, said, "Regardless of practical experience or major, anyone with a certificate obtained by completing 100 hours of training in domestic violence, prostitution, or sexual violence counseling can apply to be a digital sexual violence counselor," adding, "It is hard to understand what connection domestic violence or prostitution has with digital sexual violence that only 100 hours of training is sufficient." He pointed out, "This means entrusting the crucial initial counseling work, where sexual violence victims first seek help, to people lacking qualifications," calling it "irresponsible showy administration and serious budget waste." Another insider, B, said, "Professional knowledge and experience are paramount for counselors deployed in the field," and added, "Having inexperienced beginners conduct sexual violence counseling constitutes serious secondary harm to victims." He also expressed concern that "victims requesting counseling might be disappointed by the immature counseling provided by MOGEF-operated institutions and may never seek help or counseling again."

Sexual violence counselors at the Sunflower Center, whose main task is offline sexual violence victim counseling, require a major and two years of practical experience as essential qualifications. Those who do not meet these criteria cannot even submit their applications. A MOGEF official said, "Qualification standards may vary depending on the nature of the work," and added, "For digital sexual violence support personnel, we will improve work capabilities through separate training courses after hiring."

The reason MOGEF lowered the qualification requirements for digital sexual violence counselors is to increase the number of applicants, fill the positions, and execute the supplementary budget allocated for the project within this year. Although digital sexual crime channels have diversified and become more organized recently, such as in the Nth Room case, making the damage increasingly severe, it remains difficult to recruit counselors. When MOGEF recruited digital sexual crime victim support personnel in January last year, only 10 out of 26 positions were newly filled. Excluding 13 existing personnel whose contracts were extended, the remaining 3 positions were not filled even by June, causing recruitment difficulties. As a result, 63.5 million KRW (7.2%) of the 884 million KRW personnel budget went unused. Poor treatment and salary levels due to fixed-term contracts, high work intensity with three 8-hour shifts, and stress are analyzed as reasons for the low application rate. While counselors are insufficient, the workload continues to increase. Reports and counseling cases of digital sexual violence victims have been rising annually. Recent annual report numbers are 1,315 in 2018, 1,548 in 2019, and 905 as of April this year, while counseling cases were 4,787 in 2018, 5,735 in 2019, and 2,423 up to April this year.

These concerns were also raised during the National Assembly supplementary budget review process. The National Assembly's Gender Equality and Family Committee pointed out in last month's supplementary budget review report, "Considering the significant increase in digital sexual crime victim reports and counseling, an increase in personnel is necessary, but hiring 50 fixed-term workers for about four months seems difficult, and the qualification criteria for new personnel are unclear." It added, "It is necessary to clarify qualification standards and carefully establish and execute project plans to avoid delays in new hires." In response, a MOGEF official stated, "We are actively promoting (to prevent budget underutilization) and making every effort to hire and operate the counselor positions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.