Seoul: Over 6,700 children were repeatedly reported to police for suspected abuse last year, a lawmaker revealed, citing data from the Korean National Police Agency. The number of children reported two or more times in 2025 for suspected child abuse reached 6,795, based on police data released by Rep. Suh Beom-soo of the main opposition People Power Party.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the police revamped the Abuse Prevention Officer system in January last year. Since then, they have tracked repeated reports by the victim child, rather than by the reporter's phone number. The data indicates that the largest group of children reported was 4,362 who were reported twice. This was followed by 1,306 children reported three times, and 490 reported four times. Notably, 114 children were reported 10 or more times.

Separate data from the welfare ministry reveals there were 50,242 suspected child abuse reports in 2024, with 24,492 of them confirmed as abuse cases following government investigations. Meanwhile, child abuse cases where suspected perpetrators were not referred to prosecution have risen. These cases increased from 1,233 in 2021 to 1,735 in 2022, 2,399 in 2023, and 2,854 in 2025, based on police data.