Outrage over adopted girl's death, S. Korea police chief apologises

SEOUL • South Korea's police chief has apologised amid an outpouring of grief and anger over the death of an adopted child in a country with a long history of adoption, both domestically and abroad.

The 16-month-old girl, who the media has identified by just her given name, Jeong-in, died on Oct 13 after being taken to hospital with injuries.

"I deeply apologise for failing to protect the life of a young child who suffered abuse," commissioner general Kim Chang-yong of the Korean National Police Agency told a news conference on Wednesday.

The apology came a day after President Moon Jae-in expressed regret over the girl's fate and called on the authorities to make the welfare of adopted children a priority.

Mr Kim vowed to reform the response to child abuse and he also removed the local police chief from his post.

The media said reports had been lodged with the police about the girl before her death.

Mr Kim said the case was being investigated, but said nothing about any charges.

He did not comment on media reports that the adoptive parents were being investigated.

Dr Lim Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Pediatric Society, said murder charges should be brought against the adoptive parents, citing "clear signs of intentional trauma". The paediatrician of 20 years pointed to the girl's ruptured pancreas as a key indication of wilful injury, as opposed to an accidental fall as claimed by the adoptive parents.

"The pancreas is located deep in the abdomen, making it a highly uncommon organ to be injured," he said.

Its injury is associated with more serious accidents such as a vehicle collision or a long fall, he added.

"Such case of a ruptured pancreas seen in the toddler is very unlikely to be a result of an accidental injury."

Findings from the autopsy also showed the toddler had sustained abdominal damage a few days prior to her death.

"This means that they had already inflicted on the toddler similar kinds of abdominal injuries days before, and then again the day she died," Dr Lim said.

In a statement on Monday, the Korean Women Lawyers Association also proposed that the case be reviewed as a potential murder.

The toddler died about eight months after she was adopted in February last year.

When she was taken to an emergency room at a western Seoul hospital on Oct 13, she was already in a state of cardiac arrest.

She was badly bruised, with her ribs fractured and stomach bloated from internal bleeding, according to the hospital records.

Her death certificate read abdominal trauma.

Following investigations, prosecutors indicted the adoptive mother on charges of child abuse homicide, and her adoptive father for child neglect.

Dr Lim lamented the lack of police action despite three separate reports of child abuse filed by a daycare centre as well as a paediatrician who examined her.

The hashtag "Sorry, Jeong-in" has trended on South Korean Twitter this week and several actors and singers, including a member of top boy band BTS, Jimin, posted the hashtag on their social networks and made donations to childcare agencies.

The case has shone a spotlight on child abuse. The Korean Women Lawyers Association said 28 adopted children had died in 2018 alone from abuse, according to the National Centre for the Rights of the Child, and 80 per cent of the child abuse takes place within the family.

South Korea has been a source of babies for adoption by people abroad since the 1950-1953 Korean War, especially to the United States. Adoption is also relatively common domestically.

REUTERS, THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK