Six out of every ten South Korean women who recently ended a marriage, cohabitation, or romantic partnership have fallen victim to violence inflicted by their former intimate partners, with nearly half of them experiencing persistent stalking. The alarmingly high prevalence of "breakup violence"—often escalating precisely when relationships end—underscores a severe structural vulnerability for women attempting to exit abusive relationships, according to a comprehensive national survey released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

The findings stem from the nationwide "2025 Domestic Violence Survey," conducted among 9,077 men and women aged 19 and older across South Korea. Mandated by Article 4-2 of the Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection, etc. of Victims, the government-led triennial study offers a critical diagnostic benchmark on intimate partner violence, legal response efficacy, and public attitudes.

Relationship Termination as a High-Risk Catalyst for Severe Intimate Abuse

Overall, the study revealed that 5.9% of all respondents (7.6% of women and 4.1% of men) reported experiencing at least one instance of physical, sexual, economic, or emotional abuse by a current or former spouse or partner within the preceding 12 months. While physical, sexual, and emotional abuse rates exhibited a slight decline compared to the 2022 survey findings, economic abuse experienced a marginal uptick, rising from 0.4% to 0.6%.

However, the data demonstrates that the process of relationship termination—encompassing divorce, legal separation, or the dissolution of cohabitation—acts as a particularly dangerous catalyst for severe violence. Among individuals who had experienced the termination of a relationship, fully 50.0% (59.6% of women and 40.0% of men) reported being subjected to one or more forms of physical, sexual, economic, or emotional abuse by their partner. This figure stands more than three times higher than the lifetime intimate partner violence victimization rate of 14.4% (17.2% for women and 11.5% for men) across the general population.

For female respondents specifically, the rate of post-breakup abuse reached 60.5% when accounting for stalking behaviors. Within this group of abused women, 29.1% experienced stalking during or immediately following the breakup, signifying that nearly half of all female victims of breakup violence were relentlessly stalked by their former partners.

A granular analysis of stalking modalities revealed that 26.8% faced "physical approach stalking," involving direct physical access, unwanted confrontation, or physical trailing. Meanwhile, 13.7% endured "technology-mediated stalking," characterized by harassment via text messages, digital messaging applications, social media platforms, or GPS tracking devices. Furthermore, 10.6% of victims suffered from overlapping harassment, enduring both physical and digital tracking simultaneously.

Growing Privatization of Domestic Abuse and Pervasive Victim Silence

Despite heightened public awareness campaigns in recent years, societal perceptions regarding domestic violence exhibit a concerning trend toward privatization. The proportion of respondents who agreed that "domestic violence can be forgiven if the perpetrator sincerely regrets their actions" decreased from 23.8% in 2022 to 21.6% in 2025. Paradoxically, the belief that "domestic violence is a private matter that ought to be resolved internally within the household" increased to 23.2%, up from 20.5% in 2022.

Hong Mi-ri, an Associate Research Fellow at the Korean Women's Development Institute, noted: "While society increasingly acknowledges that domestic violence is fundamentally unacceptable, there is a parallel, worrisome trend where the public perceives it as an individual crisis that victims must navigate independently."

This social atmosphere has coincided with increasingly passive responses from victims. An overwhelming 68.5% of violence victims reported taking "no action whatsoever" at the time of the incident, representing a steep 15.2 percentage point increase from 53.3% in the 2022 survey. When asked why they remained passive, 36.3% cited the belief that "things would resolve themselves if they simply endured the moment." Another 34.0% indicated they felt "the violence was not severe enough," while 31.4% stated they felt "too ashamed and humiliated"—a category that more than doubled compared to 14.9% in 2022.

Furthermore, an overwhelming 80.9% of victims stated they did not seek outside help from any formal institution or informal network. Among the small minority who did seek assistance, most turned to informal support channels: 10.7% sought help from neighbors or friends, and 10.1% turned to family members or relatives. Crucially, a mere 1.1% of victims reported seeking assistance from police authorities, highlighting a massive gap in institutional trust and intervention.

Government Response: Institutional Reforms and Legal Mandates

Addressing the press at the Government Complex in Seoul, Seong-Chul Kim, Policy Officer for Safety and Human Rights at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, outlined the government's strategic roadmap to combat escalating intimate partner violence and post-breakup stalking.

In light of the survey's sobering findings, the Ministry announced a suite of legislative and executive measures. To counter severe post-separation stalking, the government plans to extend provisional protective measure durations and expand high-risk victim protection schemes, including state-funded private security bodyguards and smart AI-driven CCTV surveillance installations.

Additionally, the Ministry is actively consulting with the Ministry of Justice to establish formal statutory penalties for coercive control and coercive dominance—patterns of behavior that degrade autonomy without necessarily involving overt physical or sexual assaults. Regulatory amendments to the Anti-Stalking Act will also be pursued to enable official support for deleting victims' leaked personal information online. Finally, the government will institute a formal "Intimate Partner Homicide Case Review System" to systematically analyze fatal intimate partner violence incidents and prevent future tragedies.