"A Couple in Their 40s Who Bought and Abandoned 5 Newborns After Saying 'I Want a Daughter' and Abused Them"

Approaching Single Mothers... "I Will Raise the Child Instead"
Abandonment Citing Unwanted Gender or Saju

A couple in their 40s who wanted to have a daughter but could not, purchased five newborns through the internet and have been brought to trial.

On the 16th, the Women's and Children's Crime Investigation Division of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Eun-hye) announced that they have arrested and indicted Mr. A (47, female) and Mr. B (45), a married couple, on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act (child trafficking) and other offenses for buying five newborns with money.

They were charged with abusing or abandoning the five children they brought after paying the biological mothers between 1 million and 10 million won over five transactions from January 2020 to August 2021. They are also accused of attempting, but failing, to approach at least two unmarried mothers during the same period to obtain newborns.

The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. [Image source=Pixabay]

The remarried couple wanted to have a daughter, but when pregnancy did not occur and formal adoption became difficult due to financial reasons, they committed these crimes. They approached unmarried pregnant women and mothers considering abortion or adoption through online communities and internet portal sites, persuading them by saying, "If you give birth to a child, give it to us; we will pay you and raise the child instead."

Then, the pregnant women received medical care under A’s personal information and gave birth, after which the couple took all five newborns, registered them as their own children or raised them without birth registration. Also, since the unmarried mothers did not know the gender of the child until just before birth, the couple told them, "Bring the child first," and after receiving the child, abandoned the baby in a baby box if the child was not the gender or fortune they desired.

To reassure the biological mothers, they even showed fake family relation certificates that made it appear as if the birth had been registered. However, it is known that some of the five babies were not registered at all.

Investigative authorities began an investigation after receiving a request from administrative agencies regarding unclear whereabouts of some children following a full survey of unregistered births in July. They uncovered evidence of child trafficking by the couple. Of the five victim children, four were adopted through welfare institutions or placed in orphanages, and one was separated and protected at a center for abused children.

A prosecutor stated, "The couple neglected their parental duties such as failing to comply with visitation rights for children born from previous spouses and committed an inhumane crime by trading lives like commodities out of greed for new children. We will thoroughly investigate the unmarried mothers who sold the children and strictly punish them according to the principle of zero tolerance."

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