South Korea reports 42% surge in domestic violence during Chuseok

Domestic violence reports in South Korea saw a significant increase during the recent Chuseok holiday period. According to the Korean National Police Agency, the daily average of domestic violence reports reached 1,294, representing a 42.4% increase compared to the usual daily average of 908.9.

Other relationship-based crimes also saw upward trends. Dating violence reports rose by 16.4% to an average of 356 per day, while stalking reports saw a slight increase of 0.6%. Conversely, child abuse reports decreased by 12.4% during the holiday period.

To manage the holiday period, the police implemented a comprehensive security plan, deploying an average of 25,805 personnel daily. This included checking the status of over 31,000 potential victims of relationship-based crimes and inspecting more than 53,000 crime-prone locations. During this period, police arrested 6,889 individuals for various crimes, including theft and violence, and detained 141 people.

Separately, discussions have emerged regarding the shortage of specialized personnel to handle adult missing persons cases. With nearly 3,000 adult missing person reports recorded during Chuseok holidays over the last three years, there are calls to empower local autonomous police to handle initial searches to alleviate the burden on national police forces.