Ministry of Health and Welfare to Conduct Comprehensive Survey of Children with Temporary Newborn Numbers Only

In relation to the infant murder case in Suwon-si, Gyeonggi Province, the government will conduct a full survey of infants and young children who have not been registered at birth and only have temporary newborn numbers.

On the 22nd, Lee Gi-il, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, held an emergency briefing at the Government Seoul Office and said, "From now on, a nationwide full survey will be conducted jointly by the National Police Agency, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and local governments on all children who only have temporary newborn numbers."

Lee Gi-il, the First Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, held an emergency briefing at the Government Seoul Office on the 22nd and announced plans for a full survey of children with only temporary newborn numbers.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Vice Minister Lee said, "First of all, I sincerely apologize to the public for the fact that the child born in relation to the Suwon-si infant death incident did not receive protection from our society after birth and died," and explained, "This incident was discovered during the process of conducting a status survey on at-risk children during the regular audit of the Ministry of Health and Welfare by the Board of Audit and Inspection in March, when 2,236 children born in medical institutions who did not receive resident registration numbers but only had newborn numbers were investigated." Considering that only a portion of the 2,236 children were selected as investigation targets during the audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection, the Ministry of Health and Welfare decided to conduct a full survey.

Following the audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to investigate children who have not been registered at birth and only have temporary newborn numbers issued by medical institutions in consultation with the National Police Agency, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and local governments. Through local governments, they will contact the children's guardians to check their safety status, and if confirmation is not possible, they will cooperate with the police and others to locate them.

Currently, when a child is born in a medical institution, a temporary newborn number is assigned even if the birth is not registered, for the purpose of national immunization, and the child receives the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. Subsequently, the medical institution receives reimbursement for this from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. However, since the temporary newborn number does not include the mother's information, it is known that tracking of unregistered children based on this has not been conducted so far.

Furthermore, to establish a fundamental solution, the government will consult with related ministries and the National Assembly to promptly legislate the 'Birth Notification System,' which notifies local governments to prevent omission in birth registration when a child is born in a medical institution, and the 'Protected Birth System,' which supports anonymous childbirth. Vice Minister Lee emphasized, "We will thoroughly conduct a full survey and prepare legal and institutional improvement measures to ensure that such incidents never recur," and added, "We will create a safe growth environment where precious lives born can live healthily and happily in our society."

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