As it is known that a teenage girl who was murdered in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul was investigated on suspicion of theft along with the killer's family, it is pointed out that the protection network for 'out-of-school youth' should be strengthened.
Since youth involved in crimes may be victims of coercion, threats, or sexual exploitation, their living environment and need for protection must be examined along with the investigation.
The murdered victim, Ms. A (15), was of middle school age, but did not attend school and had been living in several youth shelters since the beginning of this year due to conflicts with her parents.
According to the Korea Youth Policy Institute's report on the 'Study on the Status of Dually Vulnerable Youth at Home and Out of School' on the 12th, 10.3% (9 people) of the 87 out-of-school youth who responded to the survey answered that they had experienced difficulties of being forced or threatened to commit crimes by people around them.
This is the percentage who responded ‘I tend to do that’ to the item ‘I am forced or threatened to commit crimes such as theft and prostitution by people around me.’
33.3% (29 people) of respondents outside the same school answered that they experienced difficulties because there was no place to get the help they needed.
This survey was conducted on 463 youth who used or entered youth shelters and youth independence support centers in 2024.
One youth who participated in an in-depth interview said about the lives of people around him, “There was stealing and selling of cell phones, things like that.” He also said he saw his friends gambling illegally.
The teenager, who had been staying at a friend's house after leaving home, was transferred to a shelter after police intervention.
Another teenager expressed his feelings when he left home, saying, "I don't have a home, I don't have money, and I can't do anything. It's a difficult situation."
The fact that youth are exposed to various harms, including sexual exploitation, assault, and extortion, is also confirmed in statistics from victim support organizations.
According to the '2025 Annual Report on the Support Center for Children and Youth Victims of Sexual Exploitation' by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Women's Human Rights Agency, the number of victims of children and youth supported by 17 centers across the country last year was 1,226.
When the types of damage were counted with multiple responses, 'conditional encounters' was the most common with 942 cases (37.9%).
This was followed by 289 cases of ‘assault/extortion’ (11.6%), 280 cases of ‘digital sex crime’ (11.3%), and 206 cases of ‘taming’ (8.3%).
The damage route was online media such as chatting apps and social networking services (SNS), which accounted for 82.7%.
Researchers at the Korea Youth Policy Institute suggested, “There is a need to pay attention to the fact that youth can be both perpetrators and victims at the same time,” and “There is a need to prevent delinquency in advance through financial support and support for relationship formation.”
He then said, “There is a need to explore various ways to expand the social support system,” and suggested one-on-one mentoring with adult role models.
Although it is important to connect with support organizations before they are at risk, there are many youth who do not receive guidance from the stage of leaving school.
In the '2025 Survey on the Status of Out-of-School Youth' announced by the Ministry of Gender Equality this year, 45.3% of respondents responded that they had never been provided with information about out-of-school youth support centers at the time they left school.
The proportion of people who received information increased from 48.3% in 2023 to 54.2% last year, but many people still have not been informed of support counters.
The police also use school police officers (SPOs) to detect youth outside of school and home and connect them to counseling, protection, medical care, and independence support organizations.
However, securing manpower and expertise to support expanded work ranging from responding to school violence to protecting at-risk youth has been pointed out as a challenge.
As of this year, the number of SPOs is 1,127, and each person is in charge of an average of 10.6 schools.
In a report last year, the National Assembly Research Service suggested, “There is a need to expand SPOs of an appropriate size and introduce a long-term service system to increase the expertise of SPOs subject to rotational appointments.”
