More seek counseling on domestic violence in South Korea

The number of people seeking domestic violence counseling in South Korea soared by 1.7 times since 2012, data showed Wednesday.

According to the Women’s Human Rights Commission of Korea, domestic violence accounted for 58 percent or 159,081 out of 274,226 cases of emergency phone counseling last year. The corresponding figure was 42.6 percent or 94,985 cases in 2012.

 

A majority of the calls involved physical abuse, with 127,565 cases, or 80.2 percent of the total, and was followed by emotional abuse, financial abuse, and sexual abuse.

Also, the number of people who sought refuge in emergency shelters stood at 10,175, up 16.2 percent from the previous year. Of them, 2.7 percent were underage victims.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)