Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Young mother gets suspended jail term for killing newborn
gettyimagesbank
By Jung Min-ho
A woman in her 20s has been given a suspended prison sentence for killing her newborn.
The Cheongju District Court on Sunday sentenced the young mother to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for suffocating the baby to death after giving birth by herself at an apartment building in Chungju, a city in North Chungcheong Province, on June 5, 2024.
The court found that she committed the act after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend, the father of the child. As an unmarried single woman, she reportedly feared the consequences of revealing the situation to her family.
“It is undeniable that parents can’t violate their children’s right to life,” the court said. “The sentence was determined after considering that the defendant committed it when she was in an unstable condition after giving birth and that she admitted her wrongdoing during her six-month detention period.”
Amid calls to strengthen penalties for killing babies, the National Assembly approved a bill in July 2023 to scrap the criminal code of feticide, a charge that had drawn criticism for giving lenient sentences than murder. This revision has come into force since February 2024.