could be subject to protective disposition pertaining to every subparagraph of
Article 32 (1) of the Juvenile Act. The protective disposition is a special measure
related to criminal disposition whose purpose of legislation was protection and
aid for juveniles instead of punishment. However, it includes the restrictions on
physical freedom including probation, consigned care and custody at young
offender institutions and sending to juvenile reformatories. In addition, protective
disposition has the nature of “punishment” in fact as it is impossible to
prosecute the same case or send it to a Juvenile Court. Moreover, the decision
of protective disposition remains as investigation data and in some cases, the
past decision of protective disposition is used as evidence of repeatability of
crime in the future.
51. Although protective measures for children and juveniles victimized by sexual
traffic are needed, the current law allows protective disposition with the effect of
“punishment,” thereby making it hard for victimized children to ask for help
outside and escape from sexual traffic due to sex buyers and brokers who
exploit the situation. Thus, the NHRCK delivered an opinion to make it clear that
prostituted children are victims, delete the provisions enabling protective
disposition and revise the law to reinforce protection and assistance for them in
July 2017.
[11] Measures Related to Induced Abortion (List of Issues 19)
52. Demand for decriminalization of abortion is higher than ever among women. In
November 2017, 235,372 people signed the national petition to the Blue House
for the “decriminalization of abortion and introduction of an abortion pill
(Mifegyne)” and the Blue House provided an answer to this petition on
November 26th, 2017. The answer disclosed the Government’s plan to conduct
an extensive fact-finding research on induced abortion in 2018 and emphasized
the need for a forward-looking approach, acknowledging that “the responsibility
of the country and men were completely left out” on the issue. On the contrary,
the Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea started a national petition against