Incheon City Creates Youth Jobs and Prevents Digital Sex Crimes 'Two Birds with One Stone'

Digital Sex Crime Special Investigation Headquarters, National Police Agency / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City is creating jobs for young people and operating an online monitoring team to prevent digital sex crimes.

The city announced on the 9th that as part of the Hope Job Project to overcome the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), it will hire 15 young people to operate an online youth monitoring team for the prevention of digital sex crimes from the 10th until the end of November.

The monitoring team, consisting of 15 young people, will monitor sex trafficking and grooming sex crimes occurring online through chat applications, social networking services (SNS), and report and request deletion to the Korea Communications Standards Commission.

In connection with the 'Heehee Nacknack Counseling Center,' which supports victims of sex trafficking, the team will also conduct sex crime prevention activities such as providing real-time counseling support to youths at risk of sexual exploitation.

Before operating the youth monitoring team, the city provided two days of preliminary education on digital sex crimes from the 10th to the 11th, and plans to hold regular online and offline meetings thereafter to support more efficient activities.

An official from Incheon City stated, "New types of crimes such as online grooming based on digital media and malicious distribution of synthetic videos are increasing," and added, "We expect that operating the online youth monitoring team will play a significant role in preventing digital sex crimes."