‘인신매매방지법’ 3년 됐는데…지역 피해자보호기관·지원시설 ‘0곳’

For the past three years, there has been no regional protection institutions or support facilities for victims of human trafficking in South Korea, as per new data revealed by Representative Joon-Jeong Kim of the National Hopes and Peace Party. The National Hopes and Peace Party member obtained the figures from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which showed no installation or designation of these facilities or institutions for protecting and supporting victims of human trafficking.

The 2023 implementation of the Human Trafficking Prevention and Victim Protection Act established responsibilities for regional victim protection institutions, including receiving reports, conducting on-site investigations, providing emergency assistance, counseling, and post-care management. The act also allocated responsibilities for determining victim status through case assessment committees.

The facilities were also to provide protection, accommodation, emergency response, counseling, and medical support. Despite the act's existence for three years, neither regional victim protection institutions nor support facilities have been established or designated. Furthermore, no budget has been allocated for these purposes.

The Human Trafficking Prevention and Victim Protection Act defines human trafficking as any act involving violence, coercion, or manipulation of a person's movement for exploitative purposes, such as physical abuse, threats, forced labor, abduction, confinement, or manipulation of vulnerable individuals. In June, three individuals aged between 50 and 60 who were subjected to labor exploitation over a period of three to three years were recognized as human trafficking victims under the law.

Trafficking-related crime reports have been on the rise, with 616 cases in 2022, 825 cases in 2023, and 989 cases in 2024. Under the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, the term "human trafficking victim" was recorded as 3 in 2023, 12 in 2024, and 42 in 2025. Since there are no regional institutions to handle human trafficking matters, the central victim protection institutions have taken on this responsibility.

The case assessment committees held meetings 1 time in 2023, and 7 times in 2024, with the number of victims being judged and certified increasing from 3 to 42. However, the staff responsible for these duties is only 3, with 2 of them also holding other positions. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family claims that existing facilities, such as those for sex trafficking and sexual violence victims, or emergency accommodation for women fleeing violence, can be utilized for human trafficking victim protection.

Yet Representative Joon-Jeong Kim criticized the Ministry for failing to establish regional protection institutions and support facilities despite the act's implementation lasting three years.