Victim in Taekwondo studio child abuse case dies

The taekwondo instructor (center) who is suspected of abusing the child to death leaves Uijeongbu District Court in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province after his detention warrant review on July 14. (Yonhap)

A 5-year-old child hospitalized due to alleged abuse by a taekwondo instructor in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, died Tuesday.

The child had been in intensive care in Seoul since July 12, after he suffered cardiac arrest at the taekwondo studio.

The boy was reportedly squeezed into a rolled matt upside down for around 20 minutes by a 30-something male instructor of the studio before he was rescued.

The instructor is alleged to have ignored the victim's calls for help, and to have tried to delete the CCTV footage recorded inside the studio while the boy was getting CPR, according to local media reports quoting witnesses.

The man was taken into custody immediately following the incident, while the police investigated whether his actions directly caused the child’s injury and whether his actions were intentional.

The instructor denied intent, and claimed that it was a joke in police investigations.

By Lim Jae-seong(forestjs@heraldcorp.com)