Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Establishes Sexual Violence Response System Including 'Digital Sex Crimes and Dating Violence'

Establishment of the 2nd Basic Plan for the Prevention of Violence Against Women
Customized Preventive Education for Target Groups Including Youth and University Students
Measures to Protect Youth from Harmful Environments
Measurement and Announcement of National and Regional Gender Equality Index in the First Half of the Year

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will establish a system to encompass diversified types of violence victimization, such as digital sex crimes and dating violence. It also plans to build youth protection measures to systematically respond to harmful environments.

On the morning of the 15th, the Ministry announced through the "2025 Major Work Promotion Plan" report that it will establish the "2nd Basic Plan for the Prevention of Violence Against Women (2025?2029)" in the first half of the year, reflecting environmental changes such as the use of digital technology and the complexity of violence victimization types. The main tasks include ▲establishing a response system for digital sex crimes ▲strengthening relationship-based measures to prevent violence against women ▲enhancing protection for socially vulnerable groups such as children, adolescents, and migrant women.

Kim Ki-nam, Director of Planning and Coordination at the Ministry, explained, "Since the patterns of violence against women are changing, to reflect these situations, we are focusing on tasks related to responding to digital-based sex crimes, tasks addressing relationship-based violence such as dating violence, stalking, and domestic violence, and tasks for responding to violence against socially vulnerable groups like children and adolescents. We are also reviewing the establishment of an integrated response foundation for violence against women as one of the tasks."

Shin Young-sook, Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family. Photo by Yonhap News.

Additionally, the Ministry plans to introduce a "Joint Evaluation Index for Local Governments" to support and respond to new types of violence against women at the local government level. It will also evaluate and inspect support facilities for victims of violence against women to improve service quality.

To enhance awareness and preventive education regarding new types of violence against women, the Ministry will establish an integrated education foundation. It will develop educational content tailored to different target groups and expand professional instructor training from 18 sessions last year to 36 sessions this year. Customized preventive education will also be promoted for groups such as children, adolescents, and university students. In particular, to increase university students' participation in violence prevention education, a "University Dedicated Consulting Team" will be operated. A system will be established to guide and manage education through the academic system and record completion status in academic records.

Provided by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family

The Ministry will also establish the "5th Comprehensive Youth Protection Plan (2025?2027)" to create a safe environment for youth from increasingly complex and diversified harmful environments. Within the first half of this year, it plans to build a plan including ▲safe online media environments ▲protection from harmful substances and establishments ▲eradication of harmful acts such as cyberbullying ▲guaranteeing youth labor rights.

Alongside this, the Ministry will promote amendments to the Youth Protection Act, including provisions for cooperation obligations such as age verification when entering harmful establishments or selling harmful items, and revise the inspection manual for new and emerging harmful establishments. To ensure safety at youth training facilities, it will establish a standard manual for social disaster crisis management and strengthen comprehensive safety and hygiene inspections and facility evaluation management systems.

In the first half of this year, the Ministry plans to measure and announce the "National and Regional Gender Equality Index" to promote gender equality in the public sector. This will target 12 public sectors including public officials, public institutions, teachers, military personnel, police officers, and government committees. In particular, collaboration will be strengthened to effectively implement gender equality and low birthrate policies, centered on gender equality policy officers from eight ministries including the Ministry of Employment and Labor.