Police investigating 193 'ghost baby' cases, though number could grow

Police on Tuesday said they are investigating 193 infants unregistered at birth. A total of 209 cases of “ghost babies,” as unregistered babies have been dubbed, have been reported to the police so far, according to the National Police Agency.

Police on Tuesday search for the body of an infant suspected to have been dumped in a stream in Geoje, South Gyeongsang in September last year. [YONHAP]

Police on Tuesday said they are investigating 193 infants unregistered at birth.

A total of 209 cases of “ghost babies,” as unregistered babies have been dubbed, have been reported to the police so far, according to the National Police Agency.

The number of cases under investigation surged from 96 on Monday. The number is expected to rise further with local governments conducting a full inspection of undocumented babies through Friday.

Twelve babies have been confirmed dead as of Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, police apprehended a woman accused of burying her dead newborn in Busan.

The 40-something-year-old mother reportedly told the police that she buried the body of her baby girl on a mountain near her home in February 2015.

She told police the baby died eight days after she was born on Feb. 4, 2015.

The woman said she found her baby dead while doing house chores.

According to the police, the woman has one more surviving child, a teenager.

Though the mother is accused of illegally discarding a body, police may not investigate the case since the seven-year statute of limitations has expired.

Police will search for the baby's body on Wednesday.

Police are also investigating four suspicious deaths, including a mother who allegedly neglected an infant she gave birth to in Daejeon in 2019, leading to the infant's death. The mother has been taken into custody.

Two cases were turned over to the prosecution last Friday after two infants were found dead in a freezer at an apartment in Suwon, Gyeonggi last month. The 35-year-old mother is accused of strangling her two one-day-old newborns in 2018 and 2019.

Police ended probes into seven other deaths after finding no evidence of crimes.

Police are still tracking the whereabouts of 177 undocumented babies.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency is looking into 57 cases, the most by any police precinct.

Police in Seoul are investigating 38 cases as of Tuesday afternoon, followed by 30 in Incheon and 26 in Daejeon.

A 35-year-old woman accused of hiding the bodies of two infants in a freezer at an apartment since 2018, is taken to the prosecutors’ office from Suwon Nambu Police Station in Gyeonggi on Friday. [YONHAP]

Investigations on unregistered babies have expanded after the Board of Audit and Inspection last month announced there were 2,236 unregistered children between 2015 and 2022.

Changwon District Court on Sunday issued an arrest warrant for a couple in Geoje, South Gyeongsang, for hiding the body of a newborn in September 2022.

The parents initially told police they buried the baby boy's body in a plastic bag on a hillside five days after he was born. However, they later claimed they buried the body in a stream.

Some 70 police officers were dispatched to search for the body on Tuesday but decided to end the search as they could not find the body since their search began Friday.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, LEE YOUNG-KEUN [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]