Half of those who separated from partners experienced domestic violence, survey finds

Half of people who went through a divorce, separation or the end of a cohabiting relationship experienced violence around the time of the breakup, a new government survey has found. The findings identify the period surrounding a separation as a high-risk window when the danger of violence is concentrated.

Women were 10.2 percentage points more likely than men to report stalking victimization around the time of a breakup, and 38.2 percent of female victims experienced overlapping abuse involving six or more types of violence, the survey found.

South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released the findings Thursday, drawn from the "2025 Domestic Violence Survey" conducted last year among 9,077 men and women aged 19 and older. The survey is a statutory study carried out every three years under the Act on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of Victims.

Among all respondents, 5.9 percent said they had experienced at least one form of violence — physical, sexual, economic or emotional — over the preceding year (August 2024 to July 2025), down 1.7 percentage points from 7.6 percent in the 2022 survey.

Women reported experiencing emotional violence most frequently (6.2 percent), followed by sexual violence (1.8 percent), physical violence (1.3 percent) and economic violence (0.7 percent), with multiple responses allowed. Among men, the order was emotional violence (3.5 percent), physical violence (0.9 percent), economic violence (0.4 percent) and sexual violence (0.2 percent).

When female respondents were asked when they first experienced abuse, 52.9 percent said it began five or more years after marriage or the start of cohabitation — the highest share. Another 34.0 percent said abuse began between one and five years in, 9.8 percent within the first year, and 3.2 percent during the dating period before moving in together.

Of the 541 respondents who had experienced a separation — through divorce, legal separation or the end of cohabitation — exactly half said they had been subjected to violence around the time of the breakup.

Compared with the 2022 survey, the share of male victims fell 7.4 percentage points, from 47.4 percent to 40.0 percent, while the rate among women rose from 54.5 percent to 59.6 percent.

Among those who experienced stalking around the time of a breakup, 29.1 percent were women and 18.9 percent were men. Stalking was reported more frequently before a separation than after.

Women's stalking victimization rate was 10.2 percentage points higher than men's, and 38.2 percent of female victims experienced overlapping abuse involving two or more of six categories — physical, sexual, economic and emotional violence, coercive control, and stalking.

Some 68.5 percent of respondents said they had taken no particular action when violence occurred, up from 53.3 percent in the 2022 survey.

The most common reason given for not responding was "I just had to get through that moment" (36.3 percent), followed by "I didn't think the violence was serious" (34.0 percent) and "I felt ashamed and my pride was hurt" (31.4 percent).

A further 80.9 percent said they had never sought help from family, police or any other outside party after an incident of violence.

Among those who did seek outside help, neighbors or friends were the most common source (10.7 percent), followed by family or relatives (10.1 percent). Further down the list were anonymous online communities or forums (1.5 percent), police (1.1 percent), religious leaders (0.9 percent), domestic violence counseling centers and shelters (0.7 percent), and the women's emergency hotline 1366 (0.5 percent).

The survey also found that the perception of domestic violence as a private matter remains widespread.

Some 23.2 percent of respondents agreed that "domestic violence is a personal matter to be resolved within the family," up 2.7 percentage points from three years ago. Another 43.8 percent said they found it hard to understand why victims do not leave abusive partners, also up 2.6 percentage points from the previous survey.

Based on the findings, the ministry said it plans to raise public awareness of victim support facilities through domestic violence and stalking prevention campaigns, and to expand residential support facilities to strengthen housing safety for domestic violence victims.

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Min-kyung said the ministry would "work closely with relevant agencies to strengthen victim-centered policies across the entire process — from prevention and proactive response to post-incident protection — against violence rooted in intimate relationships, including separation violence."