By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Those who report child abuse cases to the authorities deserve better protection, a governing party lawmaker said Tuesday.
Rep. Lee Sung-hun of the Grand National Party (GNP) told reporters that he would submit a revised bill dealing with child abuse so that people can report suspected cases to police.
Under the proposed scheme, they will not be prosecuted as long as they acted on genuine suspicions.
Under the current law, people must inform police when they ``know'' the children in question are being abused.
``The current law stipulates that teachers or people should let police know of child abuse cases if they are aware of it, but only 2 percent of them actually call police to investigate, mainly because of possible revenge from those they accuse afterwards,'' Lee said.