The South Korean government announced Wednesday that it is seeking to remove addresses from inoculation documents, in a bid to prevent abusive parents from tracking down their separated children.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency issued a notification regarding a legislative proposal on revising the Enforcement Decree of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, which it says will help protect children who have left abusive homes.

According to the agency, there had been complaints of abusers accessing their children's new address via inoculation records after the children had been placed into foster care for protection. South Korean law allows child victims of domestic violence to seek refuge at state-run shelters.

The KDCA said the revision would prevent abusers from misusing the inoculation records.

A law revision enacted in January of 2022 states that victims of domestic violence can apply to ban their abusers from accessing legal documents related to their resident registration. However, the KCDA explained that this does not cover inoculation records, as they are not considered to be directly related to resident registration.

The agency said it expected the new policy to take effect as early as the first half of 2025.