'Gangwon Digital Sex Crime Specialized Counseling Center' Opened in January
Integrated Victim Support Through Cooperation Between Regional Counseling Centers
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Women's Human Rights Institute plan to provide 'one-stop' support for victims of digital sex crimes across 17 cities and provinces nationwide and strengthen cooperative relationships between regions.
On the 14th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced that it will conduct specialized counseling for victim support services at the 'Gangwon-do Digital Sex Crime Specialized Counseling Center,' which opened in January this year.
They explained that they will provide detailed guidance on victim support tasks such as on-site agency operation guidelines and deletion support procedures to enhance expertise, and discuss cooperation plans linking the Central Digital Sex Crime Victim Support Center (DiSeong Center) with regional specialized counseling centers to ensure integrated (one-stop) support for victims from deletion support to daily life recovery.
Last year, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family amended the 'Sexual Violence Prevention Act' to expand the deletion support authority for illegal recordings from the current national level to both national and local governments, and established the legal basis for the DiSeong Center, thereby strengthening the digital sex crime victim support system. In the future, regional specialized counseling centers and support agencies in areas such as Seoul and Gyeonggi will be converted into regional DiSeong Centers to establish a digital sex crime victim support system across 17 cities and provinces nationwide.
Additionally, as a follow-up measure to the 'Strengthening Response Measures to Image Synthesis Technology (Deepfake) Sex Crimes' jointly announced by related ministries on November 6 last year, plans to protect victims are also underway.
Since January this year, a pilot project has been underway to unify counseling phone lines for victim support agencies nationwide to 1366, with full operation starting in April.
Furthermore, the Central DiSeong Center has added two deletion support personnel to strengthen rapid deletion and international cooperation, while producing and distributing prevention education content tailored to different audiences to prevent image synthesis technology (deepfake) sex crimes, and promoting awareness improvement campaigns.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to expand the budget and personnel of the DiSeong Center to enable 24/7 counseling and monitoring, and to promote the establishment of an integrated website, the opening of reporting channels, and the advancement of deletion systems to strengthen victim support.
Cho Yong-su, Acting Director General of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s Rights Promotion Bureau, said, "With the opening of the Digital Sex Crime Specialized Counseling Center in the Gangwon region this year, we can now provide seamless services such as nearby counseling and daily life recovery support across 17 cities and provinces nationwide. We will organize systems and expand support so that the Central DiSeong Center and regional digital sex crime specialized counseling centers can play a central role in responding to digital sex crimes."
Shin Bo-ra, President of the Korea Women's Human Rights Institute, said, "We will continuously provide specialized counseling to ensure that citizens can receive high-quality victim support services anywhere nationwide, and activate communication channels with regions to strengthen cooperative relationships."
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