Gwangju-Jeonnam Police Investigate 54 Cases of 'Ghost Infants'... 1 Person Urgently Arrested

The police in Gwangju and Jeonnam are investigating 54 cases of 'ghost infants.'

The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 7th that they are investigating a total of 25 cases after receiving requests from local governments to investigate children whose births were not registered.

Among these, one case involves a biological mother who neglected her child, resulting in death, and the whereabouts of five infants have been confirmed.

For the 19 cases where the whereabouts are unknown, investigations are ongoing targeting childcare facilities and biological fathers.

Regarding the death case, Mr. A was urgently arrested on charges including infant abuse resulting in death and corpse abandonment.

He is suspected of leaving a 6-day-old baby alone at his residence in Gwangju Metropolitan City in early April 2018, going out, which led to the baby's death.

After the baby died, he put the body in a volume-based waste bag and abandoned it in a garbage collection bin.

The police plan to apply for an arrest warrant for Mr. A after further investigation into the circumstances of the case.

The Jeonnam Police Agency is also reviewing 29 cases that were requested for investigation.

Among these, the whereabouts of five infants have been confirmed; they either died in hospitals, were adopted through protective facilities, or were left in baby boxes.

The remaining 24 cases are under investigation, and no suspects have been identified.

The police plan to switch to an official investigation if any criminal charges arise after confirming the whereabouts.

Meanwhile, the Board of Audit and Inspection confirmed during a regular audit of the Ministry of Health and Welfare that from 2015 to last year, a total of 2,236 people nationwide were born in medical institutions but their births were not registered.

A full survey at the basic local government level has been initiated targeting 50 people in Gwangju and 86 people in Jeonnam, based on the biological mothers' addresses.

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