Lee Jae-myung: "Abolish Infanticide and Abandonment Crimes, Punish Them the Same as Ordinary Murder and Abandonment Crimes"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 19th, the 'World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse,' that he would "abolish the crimes of infant homicide and infant abandonment and punish them the same as ordinary homicide and abandonment crimes."

On the same day, Lee stated on Facebook, "Parents who threw their newborns out of windows causing death, harmed the children, and attempted to mutilate the bodies received suspended sentences due to these provisions. There was significant public outrage over the fact that such serious violations of life only resulted in suspended sentences. This happened because the penalties for infant homicide and infant abandonment are lighter than those for ordinary homicide and abandonment," he said.

He added, "This law, created 68 years ago, applied lighter sentences than general crimes considering the extreme poverty right after the war, which made it difficult to properly support children, and circumstances such as childbirth due to sexual crimes. However, today is not the Korea of 70 years ago that could not protect its people from poverty and crime. Public awareness of respect for the right to life has also greatly increased."

He continued, "We will exclude the statute of limitations for cruel child abuse crimes to ensure they are definitely punished," and emphasized, "We will not allow sentence reductions based on mental impairment caused by alcohol or drugs."

Lee added, "Just as the whole strength of Korea should be devoted to raising children, we will also make every effort to protect them."

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