A video clip shows a healthy, happy child smiling from ear to ear, her milk teeth gnawing at a pink fluffy toy. Within months, all of South Korea would know Jeong-in.
It has taken the death of a 16-month-old, allegedly at the hands of her adoptive parents, to jolt the South Korean government into what campaigners say is long-overdue action to protect the most vulnerable children, amid a dramatic rise in reported abuse cases over the past decade.
Jeong-in was pronounced dead at a Seoul hospital in October last year from severe abdominal injuries and internal bleeding that police suspect had been caused by repeated beatings by her parents, who had adopted her eight months earlier.
Photo: Reuters
Her injuries resulted from “strong external force applied on her back,” the South Korean National Forensic Service said, adding that broken bones and bruising pointed to “prolonged abuse.”
In response, the South Korean National Assembly this month passed a numerous child protection laws, including a ban on corporal punishment in the home, and a requirement by police to investigate immediately when alerted by medical professionals or child welfare agencies.
However, a clause that would have seen longer prison sentences in fatal abuse cases — the current maximum is five years — did not go to a vote amid criticism from lawyers that tougher penalties would make it more difficult to secure convictions.
News of Jeong-in’s death triggered an outpouring of grief, matched in its intensity by anger over authorities’ failure to act on evidence of physical harm and malnutrition.
Much of the criticism centered on the police, who chose not to investigate, despite receiving three reports in five months that outlined concern over the baby’s welfare.
Social media was flooded with messages of anguish and indignation, with Jimin, a member of the K-pop group BTS, among those using their online profiles to call for justice under the hashtag #SorryJeongin.
After her adoptive mother went on trial on murder charges last week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that the country had failed children like Jeong-in.
More needed to be done to detect signs of abuse and to separate children from abusive parents, Moon said, although he drew criticism for suggesting that adopted children who struggled to settle in to their new homes could be “sent back” by their adoptive parents.
Petitions signed by tens of thousands of people demanded that officials be given greater investigative powers, and that children be forcibly and immediately separated from parents suspected of abuse.
The 2014 death of a seven-year-old girl, whose body was found in a bathtub after she had been beaten by her stepmother, triggered a national conversation about child abuse, but piecemeal legal changes have done little.
South Korea had more than 30,000 reported cases of abuse in 2019 — more than 40 involving children who died — compared with 5,578 cases in 2008, South Korean Ministry of Health data showed.
“Jeong-in’s case has happened years down the road, which goes to show how little things have changed,” said Lee Jie-un, a lawyer and director of the Korea Childcare Promotion Institute. “This is why so many Koreans are angry about what happened to her, in addition to the horrific nature of the case.”
“When the abusive parents are firm in their denial, it’s not easy to demonstrate that abuse has occurred,” Lee Bae-geun, head of the Korea Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, told the Hankyoreh newspaper.
As the trial of the woman accused of killing Jeong-in began at the Seoul Southern District Court, hundreds of protesters outside held banners demanding that she be given the death penalty, and laid wreaths in remembrance of her alleged victim.
“Sorry to notice too late,” read one tribute. “Love you.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese