Child abuse cases and the related mortality rate are found to be increasing despite efforts to reduce maltreatment of children.

Noting the increases, the Health and Welfare Ministry on Monday promulgated a revision to an enforcement regulation aimed at installing an exclusive task force to address the issue.

The number of reports filed on child abuse surged 80 percent in two years from some 19-thousand in 2015 to 34-thousand in 2017.

The number of abuse-triggered deaths also more than doubled to 38 in 2017.

The government will set up a new child abuse response team that will combine the existing team with more officials recruited from the National Police Agency, the Interior and Safety Ministry and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.