Alleged infanticide cases revealed as Korea looks into unreported babies

(123rf)

An alleged infanticide committed by a Suwon woman in her 30s, who was found to have kept two infant bodies in a freezer at her apartment, was caught while the government was investigating the cases of more than 2,000 babies who were logged born in hospitals, but whose births remain unregistered by their parents for years, according to the state audit agency on Thursday.

The Board of Audit and Inspection said it has been looking into these cases since March and has asked local governments and the police to confirm the whereabouts of infants logged born since 2015 but still unregistered in the state system.

Of the total, the BAI has been looking into 1 percent -- or 20 -- unregistered babies. While tracing their whereabouts, the authorities happened to find the woman in Suwon who was keeping the infant bodies in her freezer, according to officials.

The Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency said Thursday that it found two infants' frozen bodies in a freezer in her home in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

The suspect admitted to killing the infants herself during the raid on Wednesday. The woman, who already has three children with her husband -- a 12-year-old daughter, a 10-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter -- was found to have committed infanticide when she became pregnant again amid escalating financial difficulties.

The woman gave birth to the infants in maternity hospitals in November 2018 and November 2019, respectively, and then brought them home to strangle them to death. She has been storing the bodies, which appeared to be of the two one-day-old infants, in the freezer.

The husband told the police that he knew his wife was pregnant, but he didn't know she had killed the babies. He also said that "I believed that she had abortions." The police are investigating her husband as well.

The police said Thursday that it has asked a court for an arrest warrant for the suspect on charges of infanticide.

While those cases are under investigation, a similar case was found Thursday in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, according to local reports.

A woman in her 20s living in Hwaseong was booked by the police Thursday on charges of handing over her baby to an unidentified person she met through the internet right after giving birth in December 2021.

By Lee Jaeeun(jenn@heraldcorp.com)