Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Father donates organs from brain dead 5-year-old daughter to save children
Jeon So-yul / Courtesy of Korea Organ Donation Agency
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The organs of a five-year-old girl who was declared brain dead following an accident, were donated to save other sick children. The Korea Organ Donation Agency (KODA) said Wednesday that the father of the girl who was named Jeon So-yul consented to the donation of his daughter's heart and both kidneys to three children at Seoul National University Hospital, Oct. 28, upon confirmation of her death.
The young girl was partially drowned at a public bathhouse attached to a children's cafe in 2019, which left her on life support with minimal brain function and being fed via a naso-gastric tube.
Ahead of surgery to connect a tube directly to her stomach, Oct. 19 the girl suffered a cardiac arrest was later determined to be brain dead. Her father then consented to donate her organs.
According to the KODA, the girl's mother died six months ago after treatment for lung cancer ― which she was diagnosed with in 2018 ― failed.
So-yul's father, who had been caring for both of his two critically ill family members, was reportedly unable to receive state caregiver services for severely disabled children, as the relevant authorities said they were short of caregivers.
“When I heard from the doctor that So-yul would not be able to live anymore, I thought it would be meaningful if her heart could be donated to save another child's life rather than being turned into a handful of ashes. As long as the child who received her heart is alive, So-yul's heart will live on. It gives me a lot of comfort to think that way,” the father said according to KODA.
KODA President Moon In-sung showed his deep gratitude to So-yul's family for the donation.
“It is heartbreaking to see organ donations by children as in So-yul's case,” Moon said. “Given the story of So-yul's father, I believe the government urgently needs to come up with measures to support those in welfare services blind spots.”