Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
249 unregistered babies confirmed dead; status of 814 still unclear
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By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
The government has confirmed 249 babies without any record of registration have died since 2015 because of health problems or crimes committed by their guardians.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the results of its probe into the status of 2,123 babies who were born from 2015 until last year and were not registered despite records of being delivered at a hospital.
Among them, 249, or 11.7 percent, are confirmed to have died. The deaths of 222 were confirmed by local governments, while police confirmed 27 more.
Among these 27, seven were confirmed to have died because of criminally punishable acts such as child abandonment, leading police to refer the cases to the prosecution.
The ministry confirmed the survival of 1,025 babies, while police are continuing their investigation into 814 more whose statuses have not yet been verified.
The ministry noted that the remaining 35 were cases of paperwork errors made by medical institutes such as granting temporary registration numbers to newborns even in cases of miscarriage.
The investigation was initiated following the discovery of two infants who were apparently murdered by their mother.
The two deceased infants' remains were kept hidden for years in a freezer at the woman's home where they were discovered during an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection last month. The woman was arrested on June 23.
The ministry said it will work to improve loopholes in state management of newborns, as the current system that relies only on the parents to register childbirths has been called into question following the confirmation of the fate of many of the babies.
“A bill obligating medical institutions to notify local governments of births was approved by the National Assembly last month. We will make thorough preparations to launch the system,” a ministry official said.
“In addition to that system, the government will push promptly for the anonymous birthing system.”
The anonymous childbirth system is aimed at allowing pregnant women to give birth without exposing their personal information in cases of unwanted pregnancy.