Mother accused of killing newborns charged with murder

Police on Thursday decided to charge a woman accused of killing two newborns and keeping them in her freezer in Suwon, Gyeonggi with murder instead of infanticide.

[NEWS1]

Police on Thursday decided to charge a woman accused of killing two newborns and keeping them in her freezer in Suwon, Gyeonggi with murder instead of infanticide.

If convicted, the woman faces a sentence of at least five years in prison with a maximum of death.

Infanticide, however, carries with it a maximum sentence of just 10 years in prison.

Police will refer the woman's case to the prosecution on Friday.

While the 35-year-old woman, identified only as Ko, has been in police custody since June 21, the court approved an arrest warrant last Friday for charges of infanticide.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police said it decided to raise the charges to murder as the police believe the mother strangled the two newborns the day after she gave birth.

For the lower charge of infanticide to apply, the killing must occur on the day of birth.

The baby girl was born in November 2018 and the baby boy in the same month a year later.

The newborns were kept in the freezer in the woman's apartment.

The police said it also started an official investigation against the 41-year-old husband, identified only as Lee, who is suspected of aiding and abetting his wife.

The husband reportedly told police his wife had said she received abortions and that he was unaware of both the murders nor the disposal of the bodies in the freezer.

The woman is accused of committing the crime for economic reasons as the couple already had three children: a 12-year-old and 8-year-old daughter as well as a 10-year-old son.

The couple owed over five million won ($3,800) in tuition fees to a daycare center that their third child attended, the police said.

Ko's crime surfaced after the police and local governments were told by the Board of Audit and Inspection to track down 23 at-risk children among 2,236 children who were not officially registered by their parents between 2015 and 2022.

A letter written by the suspect accused of killing her two newborns and keeping them in a freezer in Suwon, Gyeonggi [SON SUNG-BAE]

The mother claimed that she wanted to turn herself in but couldn't as she was worried about her three remaining children in a letter that was sent to the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday.

“I thought about the dead babies every day,” she wrote.

“I was planning to turn myself in after my youngest started school but changed my mind and decided to wait until she graduated elementary school as she would need my help the most," Ko wrote.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]