This appalling story comes from the Chosun Ilbo:
“시끄럽게 운다” 엄마가 영아 때려 숨지게해
Mother Beats to Death Infant Crying Loudly경기도 수원서부경찰서는 태어난 지 70여일된 아들을 때려 숨지게 한 혐의(폭행치사)로 A(30.여)씨에 대해 구속영장을 신청했다고 26일 밝혔다.
The Suwon police announced on May 26 that they petitioned to keep in custody a 30-year-old woman, A, for beating to death her 70-day-old infant.
경찰에 따르면 A씨는 3월 13일 아들 B군을 출산한 직후부터 이달 15일까지 “시끄럽게 운다”면서 주먹과 젖병 등으로 수시로 때려 아들을 숨지게 한 혐의를 받고 있다.
According to the police, Ms. A had been beating her son, B, since the time he was born on March 13 until the 15th of this month, using her fists and a nursing bottle as he cried loudly.
조사 결과 평소 아내가 아들을 자주 때리는 것을 목격한 A씨의 남편은 지난 21일 다른 지방으로 출장을 가 집을 비우게 되자 평소 알던 C(43)씨에게 자신의 아들을 맡겼다.
The investigation revealed that because of the wife’s frequent beatings, the husband left the child with a 43-year-old acquaintance, C, before leaving on a business trip to another region on the 21st.
맡길 당시 B군은 머리에 멍이 든 상태였고 C씨는 23일 오후부터 B군의 몸이 차가워지는 등 이상 증세가 나타나 인근 병원으로 데려갔으나 B군은 이미 두개골 골절상으로 사망한 상태였다고 경찰은 설명했다.
C first noticed bruises on B’s head, and on the afternoon of the 23rd, B’s body turned cold with unusual symptoms appearing and was taken to a nearby hospital; it appeared that he was already dead from skull injuries, said the police.
A씨는 경찰에서 “아이가 시끄럽게 울어 때렸다”고 폭행 사실을 인정했다.
A admitted to the violence to the police, “The child was crying loudly as I hit him.”
Fists and a baby bottle? The mother appears to be disturbed and the father was clueless about how to stop his wife from abusing their child. Does anybody know what resources, if any, exist for families like this one in Korea? Korea finally got around to passing a law against spousal abuse. Are there laws regulating parental treatment of minor children?
17 Comments
Simply tragic.
Was she suffering from a really f*cked up version of Post-Partum? (Like Postnatal psychosis?) That’s just absolutely terrible…
God bless the mother and child.
#2, tbh, I’m not too surprised something like this has happened, I’ve noticed quite a few Korean mothers can be quite violent towards their kids/infants, even in public, and I don’t mean simply the Western view of belt strappin’ or bamboo caning. Perhaps why certain teens there also have crazy self control issues when anger flares.
Let’s be careful about making generalizations. During my time in Korea and China, including time spent in homes with mothers, I observed quite the opposite - great leniency towards preschool children. Corporal punishment and physical consequences seem to kick in around the time the child enters school and approaches the age of reason at around seven, when a conscience emerges. Despite our child protection laws and agencies, kids in the US still get murdered by caregivers, too.
Taking a new approach to ‘news’? A Korean farted in a crowded elevator yesterday; you may want to do a writeup on that as well.
The last question in Sonagi’s post is one that interests me too. Is there the equivalent of social services in Korea? i.e. a gov’t org to call to report suspected cases of child abuse? One of my friends who teaches English asked me about this last week because one of the youngsters in his class has frequent signs of abuse (black eyes, other bruises, weak and dodgy excuses for how he got bruised, etc.). He wants to call social services, as he’d do back home, and as would be the law in the USA, but he doesn’t know how, or if such an org exists here. Can anyone offer some advice (other than keeping his nose out of it) or help?
Ok, I do have to say, people shouldn’t grow a prejudice in their heads that korean people treat their children poorly or are more abusive than anywhere else…like was mentioned above caregivers murder children in every culture, everywhere.
That being said i was at carribean bay yesterday, and i saw a mom try to ditch her kid THREE times while i was at one of the smaller pools. Each time the kid started screaming, so my girlfriend and I got on of the lifeguards and explained what the mother looked like. Soon after then found the mother, she would stick around for a minute, then quickly gather the other people in her party and ditch the child again. At closing time we came back to find a lifeguard trying to cheer up the crying child, all alone, mother nowhere to be found. So sad.
Some Korean mothers can be rough with their kids, but I don’t think this is the norm with newborns and infants. Quite the opposite I think. You’re going to find a few disturbed or bad parents anywhere you go. Good question about whether or not there are laws out there to protect kids who are being abused. Also, if there are such laws in place, are they actually enforced? Lots of kids slip through the cracks in western countries too. Anyway, hopefully this kind of tragedy can help raise awareness so as to avoid similar cases down the road.
this actually does sound like a bad case of postpartum depression, or perhaps even postpartum psychosis. it can result in a mother’s complete emotional detachment from her child, and although the case of beating a child to death is extreme, it probably was a mix of some other psychological problems further triggered by the hormones of pregnancy.
http://postpartum.net/ lists one listing for a md in kyungkido.
As someone else said, I have found Korean parents to be very lenient with child behavior here. A lot of kids freely act in ways that I would have gotten smacked for when I was a child.
Of course, it’s like that back home now, too.
I guess you can’t smack kids in public anymore.
Anyway, abuse happens everywhere. What I see more prevalently in public is the neglect and absence of caring for general welfare. This gets me when people have kids, not because they really want to, but because they feel like they have to. Then, they just treat them like a nuisance(above Carribean Bay story). Another is when people treat them like accessories. Once, a woman brought her very young infant into a loud, smoky dance bar well after midnight to show off to her friends. She was more interested in smoking and drinking with her friends to look after the welfare of her child.
I won’t say what nationality she was because this can happen anywhere. What shocked me was that no one around had as big a problem with it as I did. The woman seemed quite shocked when I adamantly told her to pick up her child and go home.
A sad and tragic story. God bless the children of this world.
I would have to say that my general impression is that Korean mothers if anything, are more apt to spoil their children rather than abuse them.
Kids in Canada are quite aware these days and their parents are almost fearful of them. My brother’s wife has MS and is wheelchair bound. His 14 year old daughter wanted to leave the house at 11:00 pm on a school night to go for a ride with her 19 year old boyfriend. When her mother got between her and the door, my neice actually pushed the wheelchair over. My brother gave his daughter a slap ( the first and only time he ever laid a hand on any of his kids) and ended up doing 3 months in jail over it.
It is sad to see parents have children and treat them as dolls or puppies. When the kids get older, less “cute”,and more challenging to deal with their parents abandon them emotionally(and physically).
It happens all over the world unfortunately
Alot of women react this way. Some simply just get caught in the oppressive net of Confucius.
They get pressured into marriage. Pressured into a kid they dont want.
Its tragic both for the mother and child.
#12 that’s terrible! Sounds like your neice should be doing a little time and your brother, at worst, should get anger management.
The judge got that one wrong!
When I was a kid, we got the belt and yes it did leave bruises/marks. To think my parents could go to jail now for what was considered regular punishment back then!
Some kids these days think they can get away with anything without consequences.
child abuse? in korea?
it’s called discipline.
sad…but true.
#5, True, I guess I should put things into context better. While by no means would I also suggest that beatings are more common in SoKo than some American states, but that those who choose to pursue physical discipline tend to be more ‘unorganized’ and visceral about it. Still, that’s simply from my limited experience, which also is somewhat dated.
“Are there laws regulating parental treatment of minor children?” Such a no-brainer: don’t beat your child (or anyone else, except in self-defense) to death. Sad that specific law might be required to clarify this issue for some (same for a law against spousal abuse).
Oh yeah, Daddy was clueless? How about keeping Mommy away from baby?