Yang Hyang-ja: "Repeated Child Abuse Reports... Government and Local Authorities Must Implement 'Pinpoint Management'"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Yang Hyang-ja, a member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party of Korea·Gwangju Seo-gu Eul), pointed out that ‘pinpoint management’ such as immediate on-site response and rapid separation measures should be strengthened in cases of repeated child abuse reports.

According to the ‘Child Abuse Re-abuse Status’ submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Assemblyman Yang on the 18th, the number of re-abuse cases and the number of affected children have also been increasing significantly every year.

The number of re-abuse cases, which was 1,027 in 2014, surged more than 2.5 times to 2,543 in 2018, and the number of children affected by re-abuse during the same period also increased about 2.5 times from 873 to 2,195.

Also, looking at the status of child abuse reports received by local governments, the number increased about twofold from around 19,000 cases in 2015 to around 41,000 cases in 2019.

As of last year’s report reception status, excluding the metropolitan areas such as Seoul (8.7%), Gyeonggi (26.2%), and Incheon (8%), the order was Jeonnam (6.2%), Gyeongbuk (6%), Busan (5.8%), Jeonbuk·Daegu (5.1%).

The number of child abuse deaths by local government increased about threefold from 19 in 2015 to 56 in 2019 over four years.

As of last year, excluding Seoul (8 cases), Gyeonggi (12 cases), and Incheon (6 cases), which had the highest number of death incidents, the order was Gyeongnam (10 cases), Jeonnam·Chungnam (4 cases), Daegu·Daejeon·Gangwon·Gyeongbuk (2 cases).

Assemblyman Yang said, “Regarding the recent case where a 16-month-old child died with bruises all over the body, there were as many as three child abuse reports, but it turned out that our society failed to prevent it,” and added, “In cases where repeated abuse reports are received for a child, professional personnel should immediately respond on-site and take more active measures such as immediate separation if necessary.”

He continued, “The annual increase in re-abused and deceased children is evidence that our society, especially at the scene of the incident, is not properly preventing and responding,” and emphasized, “The government, local governments, and specialized agencies must ensure that there are no further child injuries or deaths through focused pinpoint management of repeatedly reported re-abused children.”

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