A recent survey found that almost 70 percent of South Korean women feel unsafe from sexual violence, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration said Friday.

In a survey conducted on 1,000 adults, 1,000 middle and high school students and 100 experts in the field, 66.9 percent of adult women and 67.9 percent of female students expressed their fears about becoming a victim of sexual assault.

The poll also found that citizens and experts differ on why women are at risk.

Around 62.6 percent of the women and 76.9 percent of female students chose weak penalties for offenders and poor efforts to prevent repeat offences as the major reasons why the country is not safe from such crimes. Experts felt differently, with 80.5 percent putting the blame on a lack of sex education and inaccurate perception toward sex.

When asked what the most important measure to take in order to prevent escalation of sex crimes, 72.6 percent of adults and 82.4 percent of students suggested tougher punishment of criminals, and 66 percent of the experts pointed at enhanced promotion and education aimed to correct perceptions toward sex.

South Korea recently stepped up its efforts to eradicate what it calls the four major “social ills”: sexual violence, school violence, domestic violence and substandard food.

Korea Women’s Development Institute announced last month that the number of reported sex crimes in the country had consistently risen from 9,435 in 2002 to 22,034 in 2011.

By Im Woo-jung
(iwj@heraldcorp.com)