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Korea had almost 26,000 confirmed child abuse cases last year, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Friday. Of these cases, 44 resulted in the death of children involved.

The 2023 Child Abuse Annual Report, submitted to the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, showed police and child welfare facilities received 48,522 reports of suspected child abuse in 2023. The figure was a 5.2 percent increase from the year before, and the number of reports has been on the rise since 2019.

A little more than half of the reports, or 25,739, were confirmed to involve child abuse, an 8 percent decline from 2022.

Of the cases, 85.9 percent involved parents as perpetrators, up from 82.7 percent the previous year. Over the past five years, the proportion of abuse cases involving parents has risen from 75.6 percent in 2019 to 85.9 percent in 2023.

Abuse by other caregivers, including preschool and school staff and child care workers, accounted for 7.3 percent of the total cases.

The report also reveals that 9.3 percent of abuse cases led to the removal of children from their homes for protection. Since March 2021, an emergency protection measure has been in effect, allowing the immediate separation of children from their homes when there are strong signs of abuse or repeated reports.

Repeated cases, where children experienced abuse more than once, numbered 4,048, accounting for 15.7 percent of the total abuse cases.