Only 23 Investigated, at Least 3 Dead and 1 Abandoned... Evidence of 'Baby Trading'

Investigation of 23 out of 2,236 Unregistered Newborns
Ministry of Health and Welfare "Will Legalize Birth Notification System"

Following the Board of Audit and Inspection's report revealing that nearly 2,000 babies have not been registered at birth, police have launched an investigation after a statement emerged claiming an attempt to transfer a baby online.

Concerns are rising that babies may actually be traded in the shadows, similar to the illegal adoption case in March known as the 'Daegu Mother Swap' incident. The Ministry of Health and Welfare intends to prevent unregistered births through legislation such as the birth notification system.

The statement suggesting circumstances of 'infant trafficking' came from a woman in her 20s, identified as A, who was booked on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act (abandonment).

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection on the 22nd, a regular audit of the Ministry of Health and Welfare revealed that from 2015 to last year, there were 2,236 unregistered infants. When a baby is born in a medical institution, a 'temporary newborn number' is assigned, and this figure was compiled based on children who have this number but whose births were not officially registered.

The Board of Audit and Inspection conducted a sample survey on some of these cases to check whether the children were safe. During this process, A, who gave birth in 2021, stated that she "transferred the baby to an anonymous third party online." The police are currently investigating A on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act (abandonment).

[Image source=Pixabay]

Suspicions that child trafficking is being conducted secretly are intensifying. In Daegu, a woman in her 30s who pretended to be a mother and tried to take a baby born to another woman was arrested earlier this month on charges of child trafficking. She was arrested on suspicion of illegally adopting four children since October 2020, mainly targeting parents who had difficulty raising children. Under the Child Welfare Act, those caught trafficking children face imprisonment of up to 10 years.

However, there is also the possibility that A’s statement about 'baby trading' is not true. During the Board of Audit and Inspection’s investigation, a woman in her 30s, B, stated that she gave two children born in 2018 and 2019 to other people, but two infant corpses were found in a refrigerator at her residence. While A’s case cannot be classified as infant homicide, given the suspicion of infant abandonment, it is necessary to determine the whereabouts and survival status of the babies.

The problem is that this investigation was conducted on only 23 of the 2,236 unregistered infants, about 1%. Among these 23, it was confirmed that at least three had died and one had been abandoned, raising the need for a full survey of all unregistered infants to verify their survival status. Of the three deceased, two were B’s children, and the other died from malnutrition.

In this regard, Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, promised to push for legislation on the 'birth notification system,' which requires medical institutions to notify local governments of newborn births. This system aims to supplement the current law, which places the birth registration obligation solely on parents and imposes only a 50,000 won fine.

Minister Cho appeared at the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee plenary session that day and stated, "Even before the legislation of the birth notification system, we will promptly establish a legal basis to track mothers of unregistered children."

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