Assemblywoman Yang Hyang-ja Holds '2nd Online Public Meeting on Child Abuse'

Lee Nak-yeon, Democratic Party Leader, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Local Officials Participate

Review of Local Government Crisis Child Survey... Seeking Policy Alternatives

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Yang Hyang-ja, a member of the National Assembly (The Democratic Party of Korea·Gwangju Seo-gu Eul), held the ‘2nd Online Public Livelihood Meeting on Child Abuse’ with 17 metropolitan cities and provinces.

According to Assemblywoman Yang Hyang-ja on the 6th, the livelihood meeting was attended by Lee Nak-yeon, leader of The Democratic Party of Korea, as well as directors in charge of welfare from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and 17 metropolitan cities and provinces.

Hosted by The Democratic Party of Korea’s Livelihood Economy Task Force (led by Yang Hyang-ja), this meeting was held as a continuation of the 1st livelihood meeting to review the status of crisis child investigations by local governments and to seek policy alternatives together with the party and government.

The meeting proceeded in the order of Assemblywoman Yang’s moderation, greetings from Party Leader Lee Nak-yeon, greetings from Deputy Minister Yang Sung-il of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Assemblyman Kang Sun-woo, a briefing on current issues by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, difficulties and policy suggestions from each local government, and closing remarks by Assemblywoman Yang.

Party Leader Lee said, “Over the past five years, 160 children have died due to abuse, and during my time as governor of Jeonnam, seeing children who were re-abused made me think that the gaps in the system must be filled. I will ensure that related bills, including the bill submitted by Assemblywoman Yang to complete the system for prevention, healing of victimized children, and recurrence prevention, are processed quickly.”

Afterwards, Ko Deuk-young, Director of Population Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, explained in detail the government’s policy direction and tasks following the Incheon fire victim siblings incident through a briefing on current issues.

Following this, directors in charge of child policies from Gyeonggi Province, Busan, Daegu, and Gwangju Metropolitan Cities presented various opinions, including improving treatment for public officials and specialized personnel dedicated to child abuse and expanding shelters for abused children.

Assemblywoman Yang said, “Based on the suggestions made during the 1st meeting, our party is promoting various legislative activities including budget expansion. Through today’s 2nd meeting, the opinions of local governments proposed will also be reflected in government plans after consultations among the party, government, and Blue House.”

Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Yang requested an increase in the budget for expanding nationwide shelters for abused children from Hong Nam-ki, Minister of Strategy and Finance, at the National Assembly’s Budget and Accounts Special Committee the day before, receiving a positive response from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

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