The number of women who were victims of a sexual offense in 2017 has increased over twofold since 2007, according to a ministry report.

An annual statistical report on women’s life in Korea, released jointly by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Statistics Korea on Monday, showed that women who were reported as the victims of sexual offenses had increased 2.3 times from 12,718 in 2007 to 29,272 in 2017. Men who were reported as sexual offense victims also increased 2.6 times from 697 to 1,778 in the same period. In 2017, the corresponding number for women, 29,272, was some 16 times that of men at 1,778.

The largest number of women victims were in the age group of 21 to 30 in 2017, accounting for 38.5 percent, followed by those under 20 at 29.8 percent and 31 to 40 at 12.1 percent.

The other most common crimes committed against women in 2017 were: fraud, 74,266 cases; theft at 63,308; physical assault at 51,626; bodily harm at 15,371; robbery at 428; and murder, 333.

For theft, murder, robbery, sexual assault, physical assault, injury and fraud, the number of men offenders outstripped women. In 2017, there were 3.2 times more men identified as theft offenders (80,917) than women (25,269) and 5.5 times more men for murder (788) than women (141). For sex offenders, the number of men (31,905) was 38.5 times greater than of women (829).

In a 2018 survey on people’s perceptions on safety conducted by Statistics Korea, 35.4 percent of women reported feeling unsafe about overall public safety as opposed to 27 percent of men who felt that way. Of the respondents, more women, 57 percent, also felt more vulnerable to crimes than men, 44.5 percent.

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)