More than half of healthcare workers still experience various abuses and assaults in the medical field. More than 74 percent of nurses and nursing assistants experience verbal abuse, assault, or sexual violence. The perpetrators were mainly patients and their guardians.

This is according to the “2025 Periodic Survey of Healthcare Workers’ conducted by the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union, which surveyed 44,903 healthcare workers in 200 medical institutions. Of those, 55.7 percent reported experiencing verbal, physical, or sexual violence in the past year. Verbal abuse was the most common at 55.1 percent. Assault came next, with 11.5 percent, and sexual violence, with 7.2 percent.

Since the enforcement of the Emotional Workers Protection Act (Article 41 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act) in 2018 and the Workplace Harassment Prohibition Act (Article 76-3 of the Labor Standards Act) in 2019, the prevalence of verbal abuse, assault, and sexual violence has decreased, but victims still account for the majority. In the 2018 survey, the rate was 9.4 percent; in 2019, it was 69.7 percent.

Among healthcare workers, nurses and nursing assistants were more likely to experience verbal abuse, assault, and sexual violence. Some 86.3 percent of nurses and 74.1 percent of nursing assistants reported being verbally abused, assaulted, or sexually assaulted. Being verbally abused was most common, with 63.3 percent of nurses and 53.2 percent of nursing assistants reporting it. In addition, 14.4 percent of nurses and 11.1 percent of nursing assistants had been assaulted, and 8.6 percent of nurses and 9.8 percent of nursing assistants had been sexually assaulted.

Patients and their guardians were often the perpetrators. Of the 39,133 workers verbally assaulted, 42.7 percent said patients did so, and 26.5 percent pointed to their caregivers. Most assaults came from patients. Of the 5,365 victims of assault, 84.5 percent reported that perpetrators were patients, and 9.5 percent were caregivers. Sexual assault victims (3,448) showed a similar trend, with 74.2 percent of sexual assault perpetrators being patients, and 9.9 percent being caregivers.

Victims of verbal abuse, assault, and sexual assault were often silent about it.

Some 75.5 percent of victims of verbal abuse said they “tolerated it” to the point of complaining to an acquaintance, while 61.2 percent of assault victims and 66.4 percent of sexual assault victims said they let it go. Some 22.3 percent of victims of verbal abuse, 35.1 percent of victims of assault, and 30.0 percent of victims of sexual assault said they sought help from someone at work, such as a supervisor or coworker.

Regarding verbal harassment, 1.8 percent said they went to their union or grievance committee, and the comparable rates were 2.4 percent for assault and 2.6 percent for sexual assault. Legal recourse was extremely rare, at 0.4 percent for verbal abuse, 1.3 percent for assault, and 0.9 percent for sexual assault.

Medical institutions' response to verbal abuse, assault, and sexual violence was inadequate. More than 92 percent of victims did not receive protective measures, such as suspension of work, rest breaks, separation from the perpetrator, access to treatment and counseling, or paid leave.

Only 46.6 percent of respondents said they had official regulations (procedures) to address emotional labor, and 40.4 percent said they had a manual (guideline) to deal with it.

"The government's passive attitude is also a problem. The Ministry of Health and Welfare is not conducting a survey or preparing a comprehensive response, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor is not properly implementing guidance and supervision of medical institutions, leaving legal and institutional blind spots,” the union said. “We need more active policy intervention, prevention, and protection measures at the government and institutional levels to recognize the problem of violence in medical institutions as a public safety and health rights issue."