8
2. Best Interests of the Child
Issue 13. Child Policy Impact Assessment
1) Current status
28. Pursuant to the Child Welfare Act amended in 2016, the government will conduct the
Child Policy Impact Assessment in 2019. Some local governing bodies (ex. SeongbukGu(district) and Gangdong-Gu of the Seoul) are currently carrying out Child Impact
Assessment (para. 47).
2) Questions
29. How is the preparation for the Child Policy Impact Assessment going? What is the
implementation plan?
30. What are the examples and achievements of the Child Impact Assessment conducted
by the local governments?
3. Right to Life, Survival, and Development
Issue 14. Child Suicide
1) Current status
31. In 2015, the Social Relations Ministers’ Meeting confirmed the “Comprehensive
measures on prevention of student suicide”. According to the Statistics on the Cause of Death
published by Statistics Korea, 4.2 out of 100,000 juveniles aged 10 to 19 years old committed
suicides(para. 39). The 2018 Juvenile Statistics by Statistics Korea and Ministry of Gender
Equality and Family shows that the leading cause of death for juveniles aged 9 to 24 years old
for the last ten years (since 2007) has been suicide with the suicide ratio standing at 7.8 out of
100,000 juveniles as of 2016. According to the Ministry of Education, 1.8 out of 100,000
students committed suicide in 2016, and the analysis of the causes of suicide of students in
2016 showed that the causes behind the suicides were family issues (34.3%), pessimism and
depression (17.6%) and bad grades (12.0%). Direct causes of suicide were parents’ scolding
(59.2%), disclosure of wrongdoing (20.4%), and academic result (4.1%).