Protection centers planned to prevent child abuse

By Lee Kyung-min

A child protection center will be set up in each region of the nation to provide prompt medical, welfare and legal assistance for child abuse victims, the government said Wednesday.

The government and the ruling Saenuri Party agreed to establish the centers across the country by merging existing child protection centers with support facilities for victims of sexual violence, called Sunflower Centers.

The measures follow a recent case where a man and his live-in girlfriend were arrested in Incheon for abusing and starving his 11-year-old daughter for at least two years. She escaped from the house because she was desperately hungry.

“So far, there has been no control tower, but ministries and related agencies formed taskforces for each specific case,” Rep. Shin Yee-jin said. “This was inefficient, so we plan to set up the centers to provide systematic and rapid support for victims.”

The control tower will be a cooperative initiative of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, as well as the National Police Agency.

The government will also form a network through which elementary, middle and high school teachers can report cases of long-absent children to law enforcement authorities who can then immediately launch investigations.

The Assembly will establish a special committee to examine child abuse cases and reflect the findings in revisions to related laws to prevent violence, take immediate action, provide treatment and investigate and punish the abusers.

Schoolteachers will also be obliged to report not only ongoing child abuse but also even suspected cases, and teachers failing to do so may face fines.

In the case of the 11-year-old girl, the severely malnourished child had been confined in her home, banned from attending school. The Incheon District Court suspended the father’s parental rights on Monday, and the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office said it plans to indict the father, 32, and his two accomplices ― his live-in girlfriend, 35, and her friend, 36, for neglecting and physically abusing the girl, among other charges.