Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Fight against child abuse to be stepped up
Children perform at the National Museum of Korea in central Seoul, Monday, to promote child abuse awareness day. Sixteen people, including counselors at child protection facilities, government officials and sponsors received awards from the Minister of Health and Welfare for their efforts in tackling the issue. / Yonhap
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday that it is pushing for a revision to the law on child welfare to make it mandatory for parents to have counseling about their responsibilities for childcare.
It will also propose a special law to the National Assembly on punishing child abusers.
The ministry said it received reports of 10,146 cases of child abuse last year, up from 9,478 in 2007.
It confirmed abuse in 6,068 of the reported cases in 2011, up from 5,581 in 2007.
Some 83.1 percent of the abusers were the child’s parents, and the most common form of abuse was negligence.
The ministry presented a draft revision to the National Assembly in September. The draft mandates that parents must attend counseling sessions designed to help address stress arising from poor child-rearing skills, which often lead to abuse.
Another portion of the draft deals with those working in childcare institutions and schools. People with previous records of child abuse will be barred from working in such places for 10 years. Institutions that do hire them will face a fine of up to 10 million won or up to two years in prison.
The ministry is also in the process of drafting a bill to enforce harsher punishment for child sex offenders including a sentence of 10 years in prison, up from the current 5 years.
It also proposes that fines should be raised from a maximum of 30 million won to 50 million won.
The draft also calls for punishment of people who have attempted child abuse.
Offenders will also be required to go through counseling sessions to prevent recidivism.
"The legal measures will enable the child abuse victims to receive faster help and prevent cases of abuse from reoccurring," a ministry official said.
"We will work together with the Ministry of Justice and other ministries to have the Assembly pass the draft revisions as soon as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, all cities and districts will have to designate special departments for child protection.
The government plans to allow volunteer organizations of college students and parents such as Safe Child Supporters to work at such institutions to help prevent child abuse.
"Along with government measures, members of society need to cooperate in tackling the issue of child abuse through actively reporting cases, in order to have them detected in the early stages,” the official added.
The ministry held a ceremony Monday, designated as “child abuse awareness day,” at the National Museum of Korea in central Seoul, and gave awards to 16 people, including counselors at child protection facilities, government officials and sponsors.