South Korean teacher admits to stabbing girl to death, police say

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A teacher at a South Korean elementary school has admitted to stabbing a seven-year-old girl, who was found in cardiac arrest and later died in hospital, a police official said on Feb 11.

The female teacher, who is being treated for self-inflicted wounds in hospital, has not yet been arrested, said the official, as police were still investigating the stabbing, which took place a day earlier.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok offered his deep condolences during a Cabinet meeting over the child’s death and ordered the Education Ministry and the authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident at the school in the city of Daejeon.

The girl was a pupil at the school where the teacher worked, though police had not established a personal relationship between the two so far, according to the police official.

The girl was discovered by her grandmother, an official at the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education said during a media briefing on Feb 11. She was found with stab wounds in the neck and face, a local fire department official told Reuters on Feb 10, and later died in hospital.

The female teacher had taken a leave of absence for medical reasons before prematurely returning to work in late 2024, the education office official said. REUTERS

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