UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 16) The Government shifted the paradigm of policy on women to gender mainstreaming, aiming at achieving gender equality by more effective use of the policies that had been in place, including Gender Impact Analysis and Assessment, Gender Budget and Gender Statistics. The Committee on Gender Equality has been tasked with duties including coordination, cooperation, and execution of policies on gender equality by central government and local government. A new obligation on the ODA to make efforts to encourage equal participation of both genders and to develop measures to ensure gender equality in the programs was introduced.
Para 42) To ensure non-discrimination against women and achieve gender equality, the Government wholly revised the Framework Act on Women’s Development into the Framework Act on Gender Equality. The paradigm of the policies on women shifted from women’s development to the actual gender equality. All Government agencies are now responsible for taking up measures for gender mainstreaming in the course of performing their duties. The revised Act newly stipulates provisions concerning the Gender Impact Analysis and Assessment, Gender Budgeting, Gender Statistics, Education on Gender Sensitivity, and developing and announcing the Gender Equality Index. The national gender equality index is composed of eight categories and 23 indices, including economic activity, decision making, education and career training, welfare, health care, safety, family, and culture and information.

National Report:
Para 55) The Government amended the Criminal Act to newly stipulate the crime of human trafficking in order to ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The amended Criminal Act expanded the purpose of kidnapping and abduction, along with the previously stipulated purpose of “engaging in an indecent act, sexual intercourse or marriage, or for gain” and “transportation of a person out of the Republic of Korea”, to include the purpose of “labour exploitation, sex trafficking, or the acquisition of organs”. The consequentially aggravated crimes of human trafficking were also more specified into bodily injury and murder and death, in line with the principle of liability. A person who recruits, transfers, or delivers another with the intent to commit human trafficking has become principal rather than accessory under the amended Criminal Act, as such acts are defined as distinct acts of crimes. The provision of universal jurisdiction has been introduced so as to punish foreign nationals in the territory of the Republic of Korea, who have committed the same crime outside the Republic of Korea. The Government presented the bill for the consent of the ratification of the Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, which passed National Assembly in 2015 and the instrument of ratification was deposited with the United Nations. The Protocol took effect in Korea on 5 December 2015.

National Report:
Para 48) With the enforcement of the revised Civil Act in January 2008 which abolished the Family Head System, there have been significant changes in the individual's identity registration system. The Government distributed informational materials on the revised Civil Act and the country's changed identity registration system. Progress made on the implementation of the new system and remaining challenges were reviewed at various occasions in which relevant ministres and women's rights advocacy groups participated together. Provisions of other laws have been revised as required by the abolition of the Family Head System.

National Report:
Para 50) Domestic violence is prosecuted in accordance with the Criminal Act and the Special Act on Punishment of Crimes of Domestic Violence and Others, the latter of which stipulates imposing protective disposition on perpetrators of domestic violence for the purpose of change of environment and correction of behavior. The amendments of the Special Act in October 2011 grant emergency intervention authority to judicial public officers in order to ensure speedy protection of victims and allow victims to directly request protection to the court. Starting January 2012, sexual crimes, including rape, against family members are accommodated in the scope of domestic violence, making their victims eligible for the protective services provided to victims of domestic violence, which include counseling sessions, housing at shelters, assistance for medical care, and education for independence and rehabilitation. The amended Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of Victims and Others effective from May 2012 gives police officers, when dispatched to the scene of domestic violence, the authority to enter and investigate the crime scene to protect victims. It enables effective early response by police officers against domestic violence. In addition, the Government stepped up its efforts to raise awareness of the fact that domestic violence is a crime that is punishable by law, not a private matter.

Para 75) Under the current criminal justice system, most sexual crimes, including any sexual crimes against children, juveniles under the age of 19, and persons with disabilities, are subject to investigation and prosecution. Only certain types of sexual crimes against adults, including rape and indecent assault, that do not accompany any physical injury, require complaints filed by the victims to be criminally investigated. Careful consideration of the protection of the victims' privacy shall be given to whether or not the requirement of filing complaints for sexual crimes against adults in order to be subject to criminal justice proceedings should be abolished.

National Report:
Para 76) ... It is currently seeking to amend the relevant legislations on the premise that it will ratify the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking annexed to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime ...