 |
| Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo announces the government's plan to remove parents' right to use corporal punishment on children as part of measures to protect minors' rights, during a press briefing at the Government Complex Seoul, Thursday. /Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Parents will be banned from using corporal punishment on their children in a government effort to enhance children's rights, the government said, Thursday.
It is a set of measures announced jointly by four ministries aimed at expanding the state's responsibility in ensuring children's right to safe, healthy, protected and fulfilling lives.
Under the measures, the government will seek to exclude corporal punishment from parents' rights to take disciplinary action against their children.
Article 915 of the civil law states "legal guardians and parents can take necessary disciplinary actions on a child for the purpose of protection or education."
The article, established in 1960, has never been revised and has been misused by parents to justify excessive physical punishment and child abuse. It has also contradicted the Child Welfare Act that bans corporal punishment. Global organizations such as the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child have advised the Korean government to revise the article to ban such practices.
"Although many people now understand child abuse is a serious social issue, they still think corporal punishment is necessary when disciplining children," Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a press briefing at Government Complex Seoul.
In the ministry's 2017 survey of 1,000 citizens in their 20s to 60s, 76.8 percent said physical punishment of children was necessary, while 23.2 percent said it was not.
"In revising the law, it will be an issue to which extent corporal punishment can be accepted according to social conventions," he said. "But at least we need to stop people from thinking physical punishment is naturally included in disciplinary actions."
Korea is one of the few countries where parents are given such rights in the name of protecting and educating children, while 54 countries such as Sweden, Norway, Kenya and Congo have completely banned corporal punishment on children.
In the set of measures, the government will also seek another law revision to oblige medical institutions such as hospitals and clinics to report births of babies to health authorities, so a child can be registered with the government and protected by it from birth.
Currently parents are responsible for reporting the birth of a baby. If the parents do not report their child's birth, the government has no means to know and provide support even if the baby is abandoned.
The ministry said 500 billion won ($420 million) will be allocated to the budget over the next five years to improve school environments.
![[INTERVIEW] North Korean-born chef delights Southerners' taste buds, breaks down cultural barriers](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/3a6dc51899d548b990f489b784a0ecd3.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[ANALYSIS] Yoon-Kishida meeting raises expectations of 3-way summit with China](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/f435e5a0dc774045ba9e051c7ea72913.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
