Child and Adolescent Sexual Exploitation, from Lan Chat to SNS... "Dedicated Investigation Agency Needed"

Damage Path 'SNS' Increases by 9.7%P in One Year
Chat Apps Regulated by Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Notices
SNS Remains a Blind Spot Even When Reported... Difficulties in Punishment

Child and adolescent sexual exploitation, which was mainly occurring through random chat apps, has recently spread significantly through SNS as well. Since regulating SNS itself is difficult and directly punishing perpetrators is not easy, there are calls for a dedicated investigative agency for child and adolescent sexual exploitation.

According to the 2023 annual report of the 'Support Center for Child and Adolescent Sexual Exploitation Victims' published by the Korea Women's Human Rights Institute on the 17th, SNS accounted for 38.5% of sexual exploitation victimization routes, similar to chat apps at 40.7%. The proportion of chat apps decreased by 8.4 percentage points compared to last year, while SNS increased by 9.7 percentage points.

An official from the Institute explained, "Chat apps have slowed down due to regulations by various organizations such as the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, but there is a trend of increasing victimization flowing in from SNS like open chat rooms, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), which are widely used by children."

In 2020, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family implemented a notice classifying random chat apps without real-name verification, conversation saving, or reporting functions as harmful media for youth. Based on this, inspections, correction demands, and criminal charges are carried out. However, SNS, which have greater spread and more users, even if they have reporting regulations or internal controls regarding child and adolescent sexual exploitation, only delete or block the relevant posts or accounts. With the constant emergence of 'evasive hashtags,' monitoring and reporting remain difficult.

For this reason, there are also claims for the need for an agency dedicated to investigating online sexual exploitation targeting children and adolescents. The nonprofit organization Tacteen Tomorrow, which supports victims of child and adolescent sexual violence, stated in the report, "Although social organizations monitor and report on SNS, there are blind spots due to uncoordinated monitoring, and service providers cannot impose substantial criminal penalties beyond deletion measures, so the fundamental problem is not resolved. If we consider online as a society, the existence of a dedicated investigative agency is an indispensable element," emphasizing the point.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has begun efforts for 'victim prevention.' The Institute operates an online counseling channel called 'De4Us' to prevent online sexual exploitation. They open real-time counseling channels for each SNS and, through monitoring, if there are posts that could lead to sexual exploitation, they first approach via chat to connect victims to counseling and support. An official said, "At first, some children refuse to talk, but if the chat room remains active, they sometimes request counseling again later."