(123rf)

Amid growing concerns over digital sex crimes in South Korea, 3.9 percent of middle and high school students nationwide have experienced being asked to send or share sexual images, a state survey showed.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced the results of the 2023 survey on awareness and experience of child and youth concerning sexual exploitation on Thursday. The survey is conducted every three years in accordance with Article 53 of the Youth Sexual Protection Act.

Conducted with 4,757 middle and high school students nationwide, 14.4 percent of the respondents said they had been unintentionally exposed to sexual images of minors while using the internet. The most common source of exposure came from social media, which accounted for 68.3 percent of the routes of such experience.

Four out of 100 had been asked by someone to send or share sexual images of themselves. This was more likely to be from someone they only knew online than from an offline acquaintance. It also showed girls were more prone to the experience, as 5.8 percent of female respondents had such experience, while for boys 2.2 percent had been asked to send or share sexual images.

A total of 2.7 percent of sexual images were taken by someone without consent, with more people being forced or coerced by someone they knew without consent (1.7 percent) than by a stranger in a public place (1.1 percent).

The sexual image was shared or distributed in 1.1 percent of the cases.

Meanwhile, 0.6 percent were threatened or coerced to distribute sexual images. The most common type of threat or coercion was via "offline meeting," which accounted for 24.7 percent, followed by requests for additional sexual images, 23.9 percent, interference in daily life, 17.3 percent, requests for sexual images or videos of acquaintances, 14.4 percent, and requests for sex, 12.3 percent.