Ministry of Gender Equality Holds Expert Meeting on 'Child and Youth Sexual Protection Measures' on New Platforms like Metaverse

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will hold a meeting on the 2nd at the Government Seoul Office to hear opinions from related ministries, experts, and field organizations on measures to protect children and adolescents from sexual crimes on new online platforms such as the metaverse.

This meeting was organized to discuss risk factors for sexual crimes against children and adolescents on online platforms such as the metaverse, which are increasingly used by children and adolescents, and to explore protective measures. Experts from the platform industry, legal experts, youth victim support organizations, the National Police Agency, and the Korea Communications Commission will attend the meeting.

Recently, the metaverse, which goes beyond virtual reality to encompass social and economic activities in an online space, is being utilized in various fields such as economy, politics, and administration, raising the need for legislative or policy review.

Professor Kim Sang-yoon of Chung-Ang University, attending the meeting, will explain the concept of the metaverse and how it is being used in our society. Team leader Jeong Hee-jin of Tacteen Tomorrow will explain that since the metaverse is a platform that comprehensively provides services previously offered by existing social networking services (SNS) and games, the location of online sexual exploitation crimes could evolve into the metaverse with technological advancement.

Attorney Shin Min-young will provide opinions on whether acts against children and adolescents in the metaverse may violate current laws such as the Communication Media Use Obscenity Crime under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, and participants will discuss measures to prevent risks of sexual crimes against children and adolescents.

Deputy Minister Kim Kyung-sun stated, “Due to the impact of COVID-19 and other factors, digital activities have become more active and familiar to adolescents, so it is important that private businesses also take voluntary responsibility to ensure that adolescents use online services in a safer environment,” adding, “We will work with related ministries to improve relevant systems and ensure the effectiveness of policy implementation.”

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