Investigative interviewing of child victims in South Korea

Investigative interviewing of child victims in South Korea has changed dramatically over the last few decades. Several high-profile cases involving miscarriages of justice, directly linked to misconduct by investigative interviewers, have led to changes in legislation and police policies. Moreover, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) investigative interview protocol was recently chosen as an appropriate guideline for interviewing child victims in South Korea (Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MGEF), 2010). In this chapter, although this volume focuses on interviewing victims and witnesses in general, our attention is drawn only to sexually abused child victims rather than other types of incidents or victims such as adults or the disabled due to the absence of the related research and known practice. Therefore, firstly, we describe the child sexual assault cases, which prompted legislative changes and the introduction of new interviewing procedures. Then, the systems and processes of investigation for child victims are explained. Lastly, we focus on police officers’ practices and training by summarising a recent field study (Yi et al., under review) showing the applicability of the NICHD Protocol in South Korea.