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Good practice Imported

Mandatory Annual Workplace Sexual-Harassment Prevention Education — South Korea

South Korea · Sejong City · See the South Korea profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 26% 85/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

South Korea has required annual workplace harassment training since 1999. A 2024 survey (n=19,023) found harassment fell from 8.1% to 4.3% since 2018, but rose in the public sector despite 98% training coverage, and most victims still do not report.

8.1% → 4.3%
Reported workplace harassment rate (2018-2024)
98.1%
Training coverage (2024)
7.4% → 11.1%
Public-sector harassment rate (2021-2024)
Mandatory Annual Workplace Sexual-Harassment Prevention Education — South Korea

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Employment and Labor / Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (South Korea)
Period
1999–present
Keywords
labour law, workplace safety, gender equality, public administration

Context

South Korea has required employers to deliver annual workplace sexual-harassment prevention training since 1999 (Act on Equal Employment and Support for Work-Family Reconciliation), enforced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor with fines for non-compliance.

Results

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's 2024 survey (19,023 respondents, 2,685 organisations) found reported harassment fell from 8.1% (2018) to 4.3% (2024), with training coverage at 98.1%. Private-sector rates fell further (4.3%→2.9%, 2021-2024) while public-sector rates rose (7.4%→11.1%) despite similar training coverage.

Conclusions

Most victims (75.2%) still take no action; a cited nursing-sector study found only 77% of trained nurses could correctly identify harassment, and some university sessions are described as treated as a formality rather than substantively enforced.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
employer HR/compliance staff delivering mandated annual training

Conditions for success

  • training that goes beyond formal compliance to substantive content
  • credible complaint-handling channels so employees act on what they learn

Common failure modes

  • public-sector harassment rates rising despite comparable training coverage
  • most victims report taking no action

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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