Global Progress Towards Ending the Sexual Exploitation of Children
A global problem requires truly global solutions to address the sexual exploitation of children.
Indicators
Age of Consent
Partial
Age of sexual consent is 16 years with a close-in-age exemption if a person under 19 engages in consensual sexual activities with a child over 13. However, in South Korea, there is no specific standard or criteria for defining ‘consent’ and so the focus will be on proving the use of “fraudulent means” or “threat of force” rather than an absence of consent.
Boys Initiative - South Korea Report, 2021
Extraterritoriality & Extradition
Partial
Active and passive extraterritoriality is provided for SEC crimes. There is no mention to the double criminality requirement with regards to extraterritoriality.
Extradition is permitted but requires double criminality and may be denied if the offender is a South Korean national.
ECO South Korea, 2018
CSAM Definition
No
The national legislation does not provide a definition of CSAM which is in line with international standards. The definition provided does not include depictions of the sexual parts of a child’s body for primarily sexual purposes, nor non-visual material, However, the definition does include material depicting a person appearing to be a child and "representations that can be perceived as children" which could be interpreted as computer/digitally generated CSAM.
ECO South Korea, 2018
Background Check Required
Not Yet Assessed
National Commitments
Partial
South Korea has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention No. 182.
South Korea has not ratified the OPIC, the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics nor the Council of Europe's Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.
ECO South Korea, 2018
Child Advocacy Centers
Yes
South Korea has 39 'Sunflower Centres' established to support victims of sexual offences. They are operated by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Famiy. They provide support such as medical legal and psychological services. Police and stationed at the centres to provide victim-centred interviews. These are available for all regardless of gender.
Boys Initiative - South Korea Report, 2021
SEC Police Unit
Not Yet Assessed
Protection Standards Travel and Tourism
Not Yet Assessed
Public SEC Case Data
Partial
There are national publicly available statistics on rape and sexual assualt of juveniles and children, sexual exploitation of children in prostitution and offences related to child sexual abuse material. The data is disaggregated by gender but not broken down by other categories.
Boys Initiative - South Korea Report, 2021
Age of Consent Law is Appropriate
The age of sexual consent for both males and females is 18 and a close in age exemption (up to 3 years) is provided for consensual sexual relationships between adolescents.
The age of sexual consent is the legally defined age at which a person is considered mature enough to agree to sexual activity. The age of sexual consent varies across jurisdictions around the world and there is no international legal instrument establishing it, however various forms of advocacy have encouraged States to establish a minimum age under which engaging in sexual contact is considered a criminal offence. This is intended to prevent sexual contact with children and to prevent argument that the child consented as a defence.
Often national provisions related to the age of sexual consent include an exception, known as a close-in-age exemption, making consensual sexual activities between young people lawful if the partners are of similar ages and the age difference is not higher than a certain number of years.
To ensure that cases of child sexual exploitation do not go unpunished, ECPAT advocates for the age of sexual consent to be set at 18 for both males and females with a close-in-age exemption of 2-3 years provided in order to ensure young people are not penalised for consensual sexual acts with peers. The age from which the exemption applies should be established by States but may begin for young people somewhere between 12 and 16 years of age.
Yes The national legislation explicitly indicates that the age of sexual consent unequivocally is 18 for both males and females, with a close-in-age exemption for sexual acts between peers (of up to 3 years) is provided by law.