Every autumn, as South Korea prepares for Chuseok — the harvest moon festival and one of the biggest family holidays — another, darker pattern quietly reemerges. With the 2025 Chuseok stretch extended to seven days through adjacent public holidays, social commentators, women’s rights groups, and police officials are sounding alarms: domestic violence may surge. An October 5 Korea Herald article brings these concerns into focus. It cites police data indicating that violent incidents within families or intimate relationships tend to spike during traditional holidays, when relatives gather under one roof and tensions run high. In 2024, for instance, domestic violence reports rose 62.3 percent and dating violence rose 30.5 percent during the holiday period compared to non-holiday times. The article quotes a representative from the Korea Women’s Hotline, who observes that entrenched gender roles and patriarchal rituals — such as women bearing the brunt of meal preparation or strict hierarchies in household rituals — often exacerbate domestic friction during festive reunions. The article also notes that the actual number of victims who directly report to the police is believed to be much higher than the official numbers, given social stigma and difficulty in filing complaints. In 2025, early signs appear to confirm these fears. According to statistics published by the National Police Agency and reported in the JoongAng Daily, emergency calls tied to domestic violence, dating violence, and child abuse rose significantly between October 3 and October 9. Dating violence reports increased 21 percent year-over-year, domestic violence rose 12.7 percent, and child abuse increased by 14 percent. To respond, police deployed nearly 27,000 officers per day during Chuseok, focusing special patrols in residential areas, stepping up nighttime investigative staff, and closely monitoring households flagged as high risk.
The pattern is hardly new, but the expanded holiday may be amplifying the risks. The longer families are cooped up together, the more stress accumulates — over food, household roles, alcohol, or even trivial critiques. Small slights may escalate. The Herald article quotes experts who say that in some homes, outdated traditions still dictate that men dine at the main table while women eat separately in kitchens, fueling inequality-based tensions. Also, the holiday atmosphere sometimes gives tacit space to behavior that would otherwise draw scrutiny — so-called tolerance of men’s aggression — that can tip into violence. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many victims don’t or can’t call for help. The Herald article remarks that the percentage of women who experience domestic violence and directly approach the police hovers around 0.8 percent — less than 1 percent. This in itself suggests that official statistics capture only a tiny fraction of actual incidents.
Experts caution that the rise in reports during Chuseok may partly reflect more visibility or opportunity for bystanders to intervene, rather than a true spike in abuse. Still, even that increased reporting signals that pressures are peaking. To counter the risk, government and civil society are mobilizing. The Korea Women’s Hotline and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family maintain full operations throughout the holiday, ensuring that the 24-hour hotline (1366) and digital counseling tools remain available. The National Police Agency has declared a “comprehensive public safety period” from late September through mid-October, pledging resource mobilization, targeted patrols, and stricter enforcement of violence involving alcohol. Yet the challenge is not just policing: it’s cultural. South Korea continues to struggle with deeply rooted gender norms, where domestic issues are often shrouded in silence and shame.
Surveys have repeatedly shown that a significant portion of Koreans view family matters — even abuse — as private, not public, issues. According to the 2022 domestic violence survey from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, 9.4 percent of female respondents and 5.8 percent of male respondents reported having experienced intimate partner violence. Outside Korea, too, research is highlighting how holidays and festive seasons can precipitate domestic violence. A recent computational study of social media disclosures argues that during periods of social intensification — like holidays — more victims turn to digital platforms to express distress, underscoring a gap between lived suffering and formal reporting channels. In sum, the 2025 Chuseok holiday has reopened a familiar but alarming social fault line: the collision of familial intimacy, cultural expectations, and domestic suffering. While official numbers may rise modestly, the real burden lies beneath the surface. Unless stronger systems of prevention, support, and cultural change are built — not just for Chuseok but year-round — the holiday season may continue to be a dangerous time for the most vulnerable within Korean households.