The nation's courts have issued 41 restraining orders in the month since a new law to protect domestic violence victims came into effect, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The law, which went into force on Oct. 13, requires that courts issuing restraining orders notify police in the victim's neighborhood.

The one-month period also saw a 46.2 percent rise in the number of spouses reporting domestic violence to police.

The 41 restraining orders require that the perpetrators -- all men -- must not go near the victim for a six-month period. The courts also ordered 13 perpetrators to stay away from home for two weeks. None of them has so far been accused of violating the restraining order.

Women were the victims in 98.2 percent of the 1,528 cases of domestic violence that were reported to police during the one-month period. The greatest number -- 529 -- were in their 30s, while 324 were in their 20s, 284 in their 40s and 231 in their 50s.

In the first 10 months of this year, 853 men were accused of assaulting their spouses, an increase of 191 over the same period last year.

Those accused of murder or attempted murder totaled 102, down nine from the same period last year, while 114 were arrested on suspicion of violent assault, up 16 from the same period last year.