President Moon on the Jeong-in Case: "Very Regrettable and Unacceptable Incident"

Ministry of Health and Welfare Orders Strengthened Management and Support for Adopted Children... "Implementing the Principle That the Best Interests of Adopted Children Must Come First"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] President Moon Jae-in expressed that the case of the adopted child Jeong-in, who died due to child abuse, is "very regrettable" and instructed relevant ministries to respond accordingly.

Kang Min-seok, the Blue House spokesperson, stated on the 4th, "President Moon said, 'Please ensure thorough post-adoption management of adopted children,' and added, 'It is necessary to strengthen public management and supervision throughout the entire adoption process as well as support.'

In particular, President Moon said, "It is very regrettable and an unacceptable incident has occurred," and instructed, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare and other related ministries should ensure that the principle of 'the best interests of the child must be the top priority' (Article 4 of the Special Adoption Act) is thoroughly implemented throughout the entire adoption process."

Civil society organizations, including the Korea Single Mothers Support Network, held a press conference on the 23rd in front of Holt Children's Services in Mapo-gu, Seoul, regarding adoption procedures. They called for a thorough investigation and fact-finding into the adoption process conducted by Holt Children's Services related to the 16-month-old Jeong-in abuse and murder case. They also demanded that the government strengthen public intervention in adoption procedures and establish measures to prevent recurrence. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

Currently, the entire adoption process, including the matching of children and adoptive parents, assessment of adoptive parents' suitability, and post-adoption management, is mainly conducted by private adoption agencies.

Spokesperson Kang explained, "Because the unfortunate death of an adopted child aged 16 months must never be repeated, the government must take the lead in inspection and support, which is the content of President Moon's directive."

The government is preparing measures to increase and enhance visits to adoptive families. When investigating adoptive families, mandatory visits and investigations of surrounding persons will be implemented, and measures to strengthen crisis verification within the family are being considered, such as conducting parenting stress tests to measure adoptive parents' parenting burden.

Meanwhile, regarding child abuse prevention, the amendment to the Child Welfare Act, which includes the introduction of the 'Immediate Separation System' (rapid separation and protection of abused children from their parents), has passed the National Assembly and is scheduled to be implemented from March.

Spokesperson Kang said, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the police currently take swift separation measures from parents when more than two reports of suspected abuse are received through guideline changes. Once the Immediate Separation System is legally implemented from March, stronger response measures will be possible."

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