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We gave information on the abuse of people with disabilities for two days until yesterday (20th), but today the National Assembly also received inquiries urging the government to prepare measures. Also, at the level of the National Assembly, a bill to prevent abuse of persons with disabilities is being promoted.



For more information, this is reporter Kang Cheong-wan.



<Reporter> A case



in which the operator of a nursing home for the disabled assaulted a person with a level 1 intellectual disability in their 60s who had difficulty in communication for more than 20 minutes, and a life guidance teacher made a treadmill run for more than 50 minutes in the name of disciplining the intellectually handicapped.



Rep. Choi Hye-young of the Democratic Party, who asked the government in the social field, stressed the necessity of a post-installation policy, saying that such abuses occurred most frequently in facilities with disabilities.



[Choi Hye-young / Democratic Party Member: Whenever there is an issue of abuse of persons with disabilities in facilities, the society is angry, and the government has come up with a countermeasure. Still, why do you think it is not resolved?]



[Hong Nam-ki/Deputy Prime Minister of the Economy: The first thing seems to be the need to improve awareness, and the second is, is this the best or most desirable policy for the protection of the disabled based on facilities? It seems necessary to see.]



A situation where 38% of the abuse of persons with disabilities occurs in group use facilities.



The ruling party leadership also pledged to deal with the bill.



[Yun Ho-joong/Democratic Party Representative (Yesterday): I would like to say that I will make every effort to improve the disability environment for disabled people.]



It is also urgent to increase the number of personnel in the field responsible for the abuse of persons with disabilities and to secure a budget.



In the past 2019 alone, 73 employees of the national disability advocacy agency handled a total of 24,000 cases of abuse counseling and applications, and one employee handled 340 cases.



[Shinhae/Chungbuk Disability Rights Advocate Center Director: Since there are many incidents, I need one more team of two people, but I am inevitably going alone.]



Last year, the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee passed a plan to increase 2 billion won as a dedicated manpower budget. However, the office of Rep. Choi Hye-young said that the total amount was cut in the preliminary special committee as the Ministry of Information and Technology opposed.



(Video coverage: Cho Chun-dong, Video editing: Yumira)