'Travel Bag Child Abuse' "9-Year-Old Stepson Weighs 23kg, Biological Father Could Not Have Been Unaware"

A woman in her 40s, who caused her stepson to suffer cardiac arrest by confining him in a travel bag, is seen entering the Cheonan branch of Daejeon District Court on the 3rd for a warrant hearing. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Amid public outrage over the case of a woman in her 40s who locked her 9-year-old stepson in a travel suitcase, leading to his death, calls are growing for measures to prevent the recurrence of child abuse.

Gong Hye-jung, president of the Korea Child Abuse Prevention Association, appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 8th and said, "The average weight of a 9-year-old boy is about 32kg, but 23kg is considerably underweight," adding, "The abused children who died that I have encountered were all significantly underweight."

President Gong explained, "Child abuse cases are increasing day by day, and the abuse is becoming extremely brutal. For example, there was a case where 16 out of 24 ribs were broken on a picnic day, leading to death, and the Won-young case, where a child was locked in a cold bathroom for over three months, beaten, starved, and doused with undiluted bleach to death."

Earlier, it was reported that 9-year-old boy A, who died locked in a travel suitcase, had been abused by his biological father and his father's cohabiting partner since October last year. According to the police, A suffered a head injury on the 5th of last month and received treatment at a hospital. Medical staff suspected child abuse upon seeing the wounds on A's body and reported it to the police. However, since A did not express a desire to live apart from his biological father, no separation measures were taken.

Regarding this, President Gong stated, "A child abuse report does not automatically lead to separation," explaining, "There is a system called the original family protection system, which requires the person who abused the child to protect the abused child."

She added, "However, in this case, there were signs of habitual abuse, and the home environment posed a very high risk of abuse," emphasizing, "In such cases, the child should be separated and undergo long-term counseling to uncover the truth."

A 9-year-old boy trapped in a suitcase by his stepmother in her 40s was transported by 119 emergency services on the 1st, a scene captured on the apartment's closed-circuit television (CCTV). Photo by Yonhap News

President Gong pointed out, "'I am reflecting on my actions. I will never do this again.' This is what perpetrators of child abuse often say," and criticized, "The problem is that authorities simply listened to these words and the child's statement that they wanted to continue living at home, and sent the child back without further action."

She said, "Because these children are very young, they are extremely afraid of being separated from their parents," and added, "They think they have to show a good face to their parents no matter what, and the counselors, who know this better than anyone, should never have sent the child back just based on the child's or parents' words."

She urged for the complete overhaul of the child protection agency's protection programs, saying, "Experienced counselors must be assigned, and thorough management and supervision of child protection agencies must precede any measures," calling for the establishment of recurrence prevention measures.

Furthermore, she added, "If the government does not secure sufficient budgets related to child abuse, such tragic incidents will inevitably continue."

Finally, President Gong emphasized that a thorough investigation of the deceased boy A's biological father must be conducted. She said, "The biological fathers in the Ulsan stepmother case, who claimed ignorance, and the Chilgok stepmother case were all sentenced to prison terms of 4 years and 3 years respectively," adding, "It is impossible not to have known about such prolonged habitual abuse."

She continued, "Turning a blind eye knowingly is neglect abuse."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.