'Child Abuse Murder' Taekwondo Instructor Sentenced to 30 Years in First Trial

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The head instructor who abused a 5-year-old child member at a Taekwondo dojang, resulting in the child's death, was sentenced to a heavy punishment in the first trial.

The Criminal Division 11 of Uijeongbu District Court (Chief Judge Oh Chang-seop) sentenced a man in his 30s, Mr. A, who was arrested and indicted on charges including child abuse homicide, to 30 years in prison on the 10th. He was also ordered to complete a 40-hour child abuse treatment program and was banned from employment at child and youth-related institutions for 10 years.

The court stated, "The defendant recognized that leaving the victim child unattended after the abuse could result in death or posed a risk of death, yet left the victim child unattended for about 27 minutes," and added, "He also abused about 20 other victim children for a considerable period and showed an attitude of dismissing it as mere play, making it difficult to even gauge the truthfulness."

The court further said, "He makes excuses by shifting responsibility to other instructors, and even when the victim child was unconscious, he went alone to the Taekwondo dojang to delete CCTV footage, forced instructors to give false testimony, and attempted to destroy evidence, showing a bad nature of the crime," and added, "The defendant claims there was no intent to cause death, but any ordinary person would have recognized the risk of death." The court continued, "The victim child's family is filled with anger and suffers immeasurable pain from the guilt of not being able to protect the child, and they appear in this courtroom every time to urge severe punishment for the defendant," explaining the sentencing by saying, "The defendant's actions caused anxiety among parents who send their children to the Taekwondo dojang."

Earlier, the prosecution had demanded a life sentence for Mr. A during the closing arguments on the 20th of last month. In his final statement, Mr. A said, "I will not make excuses for my actions. I am sorry."

The victim's mother told reporters, "Our country's child protection laws are too weak, so this seems to be the maximum punishment. Honestly, he should receive a harsher penalty than the death sentence, but I cannot accept this," and added, "Whether it is the second or third trial, I will watch until the end."

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