85. Korea has built a foundation to conduct sex education and gender equality
education in the Framework Act on Education, the Framework Act on Gender
Equality, the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act, the School
Health Act, the Act on the Prevention of Commercial Sex Acts and Protection, etc.
of Victims and the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles against Sexual
Abuse 31 . Nevertheless, sexual violence and sex traffic have been continuously
increasing. Thus, calls for the reinforcement of the effectiveness of sex education
and gender equality education in public education have continued in and out of
Korea32.
86. “The National Sex Education Standards” developed by the Ministry of Education
in 2015 comprises of six major areas (human development, human relationship,
coping skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, society and culture) considering
developmental stages with the aim of helping students establish values and
attitude about sex and develop awareness of the pricelessness of life and sense
of responsibility. It also includes proper knowledge about sex, sexual health, the
prevention of pregnancy in adolescents, responsible sexual acts, values and
norms on sex. However, since the release of the content, issues have been
constantly raised by organizations specialized in education, women and sex
education as well as sexual minority human rights groups and international
human rights groups which claim that the content and the guidelines33 rather
infringe on adolescents’ right to health, information, education and human
rights34.
87. The most controversial parts in the National Sex Education Standards are the
content of the training to prevent sexual violence which fortifies gender31 Article 17 (2) and 17(4) of the Framework Act on Education, Article 18 (1) and Article 36 of the Framework Act on Gender
Equality, Article 5 of the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act, Article 5 of the Act on the Prevention of
Commercial Sex Acts and Protection, etc. of Victims, Article (9) of the School Health Act, Article 47 of the Act on the Protection of
Children and Juveniles against Sexual Abuse
32 The 47th CEDAW Concluding Observations No. 29 (2011)
33 Student Welfare Policy Division, Ministry of Education(2015-6325)
34 Issuance of statement and press conferences continued by organizations such as the Gwangju Women Link, the Council for Sex
Educators in Daegu and the Seoul Educators’ Council starting from March, 2015 including the press conference of “The Alliance for
the Abolishment of National Sex Education Standards 2015” comprising of about 230 groups (August, 2015) followed by an
international human rights groups Human Rights Watch delivering a public letter to the Minister of Education (2015).