Specialist instructors visit Geumok and Haenghyeon elementary schools to deliver tailored sessions for some 140 fourth-graders, covering deepfakes, online grooming and real-case response training — more than 96 percent of students who took part last year said they were satisfied
Seoul's Seongdong-gu district is bringing digital sex crime prevention education directly to local elementary schools to protect children and teenagers from online abuse.
As smartphones and social media have become part of daily life, sex crimes exploiting digital technology — including AI-generated deepfake videos, online grooming and sexual harassment in group chat rooms — are growing increasingly sophisticated. Children and teenagers are particularly vulnerable: while they are comfortable navigating digital environments, they often lack awareness of criminal risks and the experience to respond, leaving them at risk of becoming victims or, without realizing it, perpetrators.
A 2026 report by the Korea Women's Human Rights Institute found that teenagers and people in their 20s accounted for 77.6 percent of all digital sex crime victims. As the age of victims continues to fall, calls are growing for proactive prevention education to begin at the elementary school level.
Seongdong-gu is continuing this year the digital sex crime prevention program it ran last year. This year's sessions will target roughly 140 fourth-graders at Geumok Elementary School and Haenghyeon Elementary School, scheduled for June 22 and June 26 respectively, and will be delivered through hands-on, age-appropriate programs.
The curriculum focuses on building a healthy sense of personal boundaries and gender sensitivity in digital spaces, and on helping students develop safe online habits. Specialist instructors visit each school and conduct sessions in an interactive format combining lectures with participatory activities.
Held under the theme "Set Your Digital Boundaries! Another You Inside the Smartphone," the sessions cover five areas: understanding what constitutes a sex crime, the importance of personal boundaries and consent, protecting personal information, recognizing types of digital sex crime, and response training based on real cases.
Through everyday scenarios, students learn to distinguish between a simple "prank" and actual violence, and to protect their photos and personal information.
Particular emphasis is placed on dangers students may realistically encounter — such as deepfakes and online grooming. Students train in a three-step digital response — stop, save and speak up — designed to be put into practice immediately when a crisis arises.
Students also take part in a "Digital Citizen Pledge," committing to help build a safer digital culture on their own initiative.
Last year, the district ran the program for 154 students — fifth-graders at Gyeongil Elementary School and fourth-graders at Okjeong Elementary School — to help them develop sound digital ethics. A satisfaction survey conducted after the sessions found that more than 96 percent of participants said they were "generally satisfied." Students offered responses such as "I learned that even a small prank can become violence" and "I realized there are boundaries that must be respected in online spaces as well."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
