Vietnamese woman sentenced to 10 years in prison for abandoning, killing own baby

A Vietnamese woman, center, attends her arrest warrant hearing at the Seoul District Court in southern Seoul on charges of murdering her child, Dec. 17, 2025. Yonhap

A Seoul court on Thursday sentenced a Vietnamese woman to 10 years in prison on charges of killing her newborn baby by abandonment.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence for the student in her 20s who had been indicted on charges of abandoning her baby outside a building near Dongguk University in central Seoul in December, resulting in the newborn's death.

While the infant had been rushed to the hospital after police and rescue authorities responded to a report of an abandoned baby inside a paper bag, the newborn ultimately died.

The court said the infant could have survived if the defendant had not abandoned the newborn out in the cold winter weather.

"The healthy baby was denied the opportunity to live by the mother without ever receiving a blessing," the court said. "(The defendant) must bear strict responsibility commensurate with the act."

It also convicted another Vietnamese national on charges of helping the mother, and handed down an eight-month prison term suspended for two years.