Reported child abuse cases jump by 30 percent

By Kim Se-jeong

The number of child abuse cases reported to police and child protection agencies increased by 30 percent last year, the Ministry of Justice said Sunday.

The ministry said an average of 1,416 child abuse cases were reported per month last year, a 30-percent increase from 2013.

Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn met with the ministers of gender equality and family, education, and health and welfare on Saturday to find ways of preventing child abuse occurring at daycare centers and kindergartens. The government will unveil a package of such measures next month.

According to the ministry, police received the most calls reporting child abuse, followed by the National Child Protection Agency.

The minister also said that 952 cases, out of 1,416, were investigated by police.

Experts say the new law which allows for the punishment of child abusers contributed to the increase of reported incidents. The law was implemented in September last year. According to the law, a person charged with child abuse can receive a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The recent child abuse case, in a daycare center in Incheon, has brought extra attention to the ongoing issue. Video footage from a surveillance camera showed a daycare center staff member hitting a 4-year-old girl hard on the face for refusing to eat kimchi. The Incheon District Court arrested the 33-year-old employee on Jan. 19.

The incident is likely to bring about changes in regulations on childcare center operations and the recruitment and treatment of workers.

Currently, daycare centers with child abuse records are allowed to resume business, but this will change so that they stay closed permanently. Surveillance cameras will be required in all daycare centers. This is not mandatory at the moment because of privacy complaints from the owners and the workers.

Due to mounting calls from mothers claiming that the workers are not sufficiently qualified, the recruitment of daycare center workers will be changed. Also, the working environment for daycare center staff will change. Currently the monthly wage doesn’t exceed 1.5 million won ($1,385).