Actual Status of New Types of Harmful Environment for the Youth and Their Countermeasures

1. Actual Status of New Types of Harmful Environment for the Youth and Their Countermeasures National Youth Policy Institute Kim Yeong-hwan

2. 1. Purpose of the Research • To determine the legal concept of the individual harmful places suggested in the Youth Protection Law and the system classifying the harmful places based on their task analysis. • To study the physical and descriptive hazards of the harmful areas through the investigation of the actual status of the harmful places to the youth. • To explore the institutional development direction through the study of the examples in Japan.

3. 2. Major Contents • Development of the classification system for the harmful places through their lawful descriptive analysis as suggested in the Youth Protection Law. • Investigation of the new types and variants of harmful places, and survey/analysis of physical and descriptive risk factors through in-depth interview of the youth. • Study the system of identifying and resolving the harmful places of the central and local governments in Japan.

4. 3. Major Results of the Research • Classification Criteria of Harmful Places by Risk Factors - 1st risk factor: Directly affecting the youth - 2nd risk factor: Not directly affecting the youth but easily reinforces the 1st factor. - 3rd risk factor: Can probably cause harmful problems to the youth. • Major Risk Factors of the Places Harmful to Youth - 1st risk factor: Providing harmful materials such as liquor, cigarette, etc.; providing sex trafficking or equivalent sexual relationship; providing harmful media such as the opportunity to access and exploit the media for adult use. - 2nd risk factor: Providing the service for individual and small groups such as secret room (partition), etc.; midnight or 24-hour service; and operating customer service by the opposite sex for a variety of services.

5. 4. Political Suggestions • Build an institutional system for the new types of harmful place. - Prepare a new classification criteria to cope with new types and variants of harmful places. Through this, judge the classification risk of harmful places and determine if they are suitable for access/employment to the youth. - For places that can be harmful to the youth, they should be judged as risky or not by considering both the 1st and 2nd risk factors. Moreover, the tentatively named ‘Harmful Place Deliberation Committee’ should deliberate, resolve, and announce the youth issues and problems according to national viewpoint.

6. 4-1. Political Suggestions • Prepare the plan on permission/registration control and cancellation of the places harmful to youth within youth activity territories (school zone, residential area, etc.). Divide the region that can be permitted access and register the places harmful to youth depending on the risk level according to the urban planned areas. • Review the implementation of traffic control time for youth: consider the midnight traffic control time for youth from 10:00 PM and 12:00 MN until 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM. • Classify the establishments into those for adults only and youth (family) use. The current method of allowing spatial division for adult use and youth use within the same business place (harmful place) entices youth to their substantial deviation. Therefore, it is suggested that this method should be abolished, and the exclusive establishments are to be divided into those for exclusive adult use only and youth (family) use.