Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyung [Yonhap]
Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyung [Yonhap]

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is stepping up efforts to build a culture that prevents secondary victimization of sexual violence survivors, acting on findings from a survey conducted last year that identified secondary harm prevention as the most urgently needed policy area.

The ministry announced Wednesday that it plans to roll out a series of online content pieces starting this week, using card-format news posts and a web drama series to explain its standard guidelines on preventing secondary victimization in accessible terms.

The card news series will cover the concept of secondary victimization, an organization's prevention obligations, prevention education, and case-handling procedures and victim protection.

Under the Act on the Prevention of Violence Against Women, secondary victimization is broadly defined to include not only the mental, physical and economic harm a victim suffers during case proceedings and recovery, but also group ostracism, verbal abuse, online harassment and personnel disadvantages — such as being passed over for promotion — imposed in retaliation for reporting an incident.

The ministry also plans to produce and release a web drama series aimed at teenagers to raise awareness of secondary victimization.

All related content will be available through the websites and SNS accounts of central government agencies and metropolitan and provincial offices of education.

The campaign reflects the results of the 2025 Sexual Violence Safety Survey, conducted from August through October last year among 10,151 men and women ages 19 to 64.

When asked which policy was most needed to address sexual violence, 45.7 percent of respondents cited "secondary victimization prevention policy."

That was followed by "creating a safe living environment" at 33.0 percent, "strengthening victim support services" at 32.2 percent, and "tougher recidivism-prevention measures for perpetrators" at 28.7 percent.

"Knowing exactly what constitutes secondary victimization — blaming the victim, exposing personal information, malicious online comments, inappropriate conduct during case proceedings — is a challenge that all citizens must grapple with together," a ministry official said. "We will continue to pursue a wide range of public awareness campaigns so that people can practice secondary victimization prevention in their daily lives."


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