83% of Child and Adolescent Sexual Exploitation Victims Targeted via Chat Apps and SNS

Last year, 83% of children and adolescents who suffered sexual exploitation were victimized through online platforms such as chat applications (apps) or social networking services (SNS), according to data released.

On the 26th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Women’s Human Rights Institute announced that they will publish the "2025 Annual Report of the Support Center for Children and Adolescents Victims of Sexual Exploitation" on the 27th, which contains these statistics.

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This annual report analyzes the cases of victims who used the 17 support centers for children and adolescents who suffered sexual exploitation nationwide last year (hereafter, "support centers").

The support centers are institutions that provide integrated support services to victims, including counseling, emergency rescue, medical and legal assistance, academic and vocational training support, and aftercare.

Last year, the 17 support centers nationwide provided a total of 39,632 support services to 2,873 people, including 1,226 children and adolescents and 1,647 guardians. By gender, 1,209 (98.6%) of the supported children and adolescents were female, while 17 (1.4%) were male. By age group, those aged 14-16 accounted for the largest proportion at 567 (46.2%), followed by those aged 17-18 at 403 (32.9%), and those aged 19 and older at 165 (13.5%).

In terms of the route of victimization, chat apps accounted for 539 cases (44.0%) and SNS for 474 cases (38.7%), meaning that 82.7% of the cases occurred through online platforms. Regarding the types of victimization (multiple responses allowed), "compensated dating" was the most frequent at 942 cases (37.9%), followed by assault/extortion at 289 cases (11.6%), digital sex crimes at 280 cases (11.3%), and grooming at 206 cases (8.3%).

The types of support services provided included counseling support (16,991 cases, 62.0%), legal assistance (4,114 cases, 15.0%), and medical assistance (2,054 cases, 7.5%). The support centers also provided 12,279 counseling, psychological support, and educational services to 1,706 parents or other legal guardians.

Additionally, 8,970 outreach and monitoring activities were conducted to detect the risk of sexual exploitation online and to identify potential victims in need of support. Of the 4,425 suspected perpetrator cases identified through online monitoring, 3,551 cases (80.2%) were reported to the police and the Korea Communications Standards Commission. The support centers also carried out offline campaigns to prevent sexual exploitation in areas frequented by children and adolescents, such as PC rooms and lodging establishments, reaching 58,124 children and adolescents to promote the support centers and related policies, provide connections, and offer brief counseling services.

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Minkyeong said, "Cases in which children and adolescents are exposed to the risk of sexual exploitation through chat apps and SNS are becoming increasingly frequent," adding, "We will further strengthen proactive preventive measures, such as online environment monitoring."

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