Priority Announcement of 'Victim Protection Measures' Without Coordination Among Related Ministries
Party-Government Meeting Excludes Ministry of Gender Equality Amid Ministry Abolition Trend
Ministry of Gender Equality Plans to Propose Follow-up Measures Regarding Legislation"
As incidents of violence occurring in intimate relationships such as between lovers continue unabated, there are criticisms that the victim protection measures announced by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the main government agency in charge, lack effectiveness. This is because inter-agency cooperation has been delayed despite the seriousness of the incidents, resulting in only supplementary measures being announced.
According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 1st, the ministry announced the 'Measures to Strengthen Protection and Support for Dating Violence Victims' through a press release on the 27th of last month. On the same morning, a field meeting was held at the Korea Women's Human Rights Institute with related agency officials to discuss these measures. This came one month after the 'Gangnam Station Dating Murder' occurred on May 6.
On that day, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family stated that it would strengthen support services for dating violence victims through existing support institutions under the ministry, such as the emergency hotline 1366, domestic violence and sexual violence counseling centers, and protection facilities. They also said they would enhance legal counseling and litigation support, and take measures to protect victims facing personal threats.
However, some criticize the measures for lacking effectiveness. Among the ministry's plans to strengthen 'customized integrated support' for dating violence victims, they proposed developing diagnostic tools for dating violence victims and training workers, but did not include detailed plans that would bring about direct changes such as increasing counseling personnel or budgets. The newly included violence prevention education targeting university students and adolescents is also insufficient to prevent all victimization.
In particular, cooperation plans with related ministries such as the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency, which handle incident reporting and punishment, were excluded, so no 'perpetrator punishment response measures' capable of addressing dating violence were presented. The announced plan only included phrases like 'strengthening inter-agency cooperation' and a plan to distribute a guidebook containing necessary measures by each ministry related to secondary damage, but did not include cooperation plans for victim prevention or follow-up actions.
The current government's policy of maintaining the abolition of ministries seems to have affected the difficulty of cooperation with other agencies. In fact, it is understood that the ruling party, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Police Agency discussed dating violence measures separately. On the 12th of last month, the People Power Party Policy Committee announced that it had consulted with related ministries to strengthen punishment and prevention measures for digital sex crimes, but only the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency attended the party-government consultation meeting, excluding the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
Regarding this, a Ministry of Gender Equality and Family official said, "Since the ministry is the victim support institution and the main agency for support policies, except for things that need to be promoted in the mid to long term, the announced measures were centered on the ministry's plans," and added, "We plan to propose further measures related to legislation with the Ministry of Justice later."
Heo Min-sook, a legislative researcher at the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, pointed out, "Although the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family should lead the resolution of the issue by directing cooperating agencies as the overall coordinating ministry, its power has been diminished, so it is unable to exert influence," and added, "Through cooperation with related ministries, concrete measures for perpetrator sanctions, which are the best support for victims, should be included."
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