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| Civic activists hold a news conference in front of the Seoul Southern District Court, Feb. 17, before submitting a petition calling for heavy punishment for a couple who abused their adoptive child, named Jung-in, resulting in her death. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok |
By Bahk Eun-ji
A revision bill calling for heavier punishment in child abuse cases resulting in death passed the committee stage, Thursday, after the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee forwarded it for a vote by lawmakers.
The revision comes amid public anger over a series of cases of child abuse that resulted in death, including that of a 16-month-old baby girl killed by her adoptive parents. The bill will be enacted into law if voted on in a plenary session of the Assembly as a revision to the Special Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes
Under the revision, people who kill a child as a result of abuse will face the death penalty, life imprisonment, or a minimum jail term of seven years. The latter is heavier than the five-year minimum sentence for murder.
The case followed the death of the baby last October after she was habitually abused by her adoptive parents for at least five months. The adoptive mother was initially indicted and arrested on charges of child abuse resulting in death, but the prosecution added a murder charge following mounting public criticism for heavier punishment.
Earlier this month another couple was also detained for abusing their niece resulting in her death, even putting her head underwater in a bathtub, but police asked the prosecution to apply the murder charge for them as well.
"There have been no regulations to give heavy punishment for child abuse resulting in death in the previous relevant act although it is a more serious crime than other murders targeting adults," said main opposition People Power Party lawmaker Jeon Ju-hye, who submitted the revision.
