Teen sex Offenders Increase
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A growing number of teenagers are falling victim to sexual abuse but at the same time they are also increasingly implicated in sexual crimes.
The number of sex criminals aged 20 and below breached 2,000 last year, according to the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology. This compares with 1,811 in 2006 and 1,329 in 2005, marking a 60 percent gain over the past two years. As a result, the number of students whom schools penalized for sexual assaults has increased. Schools slapped penalties on 54 students in 2005, but the number doubled to 110 in 2006 and more than 100 students were punished for the first-half of last year.
On the other hand, teen victims of sex abuse rose to 5,460 last year from 5,159 in 2006 and 3,787 in 2005.
The education authorities are studying ways to prevent sex crimes at schools across the country and strengthen intensive sex education programs. Currently, schools are required to allocate more than 10 hours for sex education. In addition, they will place more teachers to deal exclusively with sexual assault prevention. They will also provide software programs preventing students from accessing adult Web sites.