South Korea saw nearly 6,000 cases of husbands arrested for domestic violence in 2012, data showed Sunday.

A total of 5,876 cases where husbands beat their wives or abused them in various ways took place last year, according to the data compiled by the National Assembly Research Service and presented by Rep. Kim Han-pyo of the ruling Saenuri Party.

The 2012 tally is a reversal of the downward trend that lasted for nearly a decade, with 4,481 such cases in 2011, 9,117 in 2007 and 11,487 in 2004, the data showed.

The number of cases where wives were arrested for abusing their husbands came to 278 last year, according to the data.

South Korea saw a total of 8,762 cases of domestic violence in 2012.

The government has vowed to come up with tougher measures against domestic violence as President Park Geun-hye defines violence among family members as one of the four major "social ills" along with sexual violence, school violence and substandard food. (Yonhap News)