Seoul, South Korea – Despite growing awareness of workplace harassment, a government survey revealed that over 75 percent of South Korean employees who experienced sexual harassment chose not to report it. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s triennial survey, released Monday, also highlighted both challenges and improvements in addressing the issue.
The survey, conducted among more than 19,000 employees from public institutions and private companies, found that 4.3 percent of workers experienced sexual harassment in the past three years—a slight decline from 4.8 percent in 2021. However, reports of harassment in public institutions increased from 7.4 to 11.1 percent, possibly linked to the return to in-person work after the pandemic.
Common harassment types included sexual comments about appearance, lewd jokes, and pressure to engage in unwanted social interactions at work. While most incidents occurred in offices or workplace gatherings, online harassment via group chats and social media rose to 7.8 percent, up 3.1 points from the previous survey.
Half of the alleged harassers were supervisors or senior employees, with males accounting for over 80 percent of perpetrators. Among those who did not report incidents, reasons included believing the issue was not serious (52.7%), fear of awkwardness with the harasser (33.3%), and lack of trust in the employer’s response (27.4%).
Of the employees who reported harassment, only 27.4 percent received counseling or procedural guidance, while just 17.5 percent saw formal investigations initiated. Secondary victimization, such as malicious rumors, affected 12.3 percent of victims, though this number declined from previous years. Meanwhile, over 40 percent of bystanders took no action when witnessing harassment or retaliation.
On a positive note, 80.8 percent of respondents said their workplace has sexual harassment prevention guidelines—an increase of 12.1 percentage points—and 88.7 percent trust their employers to handle cases fairly, up 15.5 points.
Officials acknowledged challenges remain, particularly citing work overload and lack of expertise among those managing harassment reports. Jong Yong-soo, head of the ministry’s women’s rights promotion department, stated the government will actively support efforts to build effective prevention and response systems in workplaces.
