World

The director of a kindergarten in Gyeonggi Province (South Korea) was sentenced to 19 years in prison for causing the death of a 9-month-old Vietnamese boy.
The Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper reported on April 20 that a court in Suwon (South Korea) has sentenced the director of a kindergarten to 19 years in prison for causing the death of a 9-month-old Vietnamese boy by forcing him to sleep.
Judge Lee Jeong-jae ruled that the director's abusive behavior was serious, especially when it repeated and ultimately resulted in the victim's death. However, the judge said that it was difficult to simply conclude that this was intentional.
"The defendant, after discovering that the child had stopped breathing, called 119 (emergency number) and did not stop performing CPR until emergency services arrived," according to the judge.
Besides the prison sentence , defendant Kim was also sentenced to 120 hours participating in a child abuse prevention program and banned from working at child-related facilities for 10 years.
The 9-month-old baby boy, the child of a Vietnamese couple, died of asphyxiation just a week after being sent to the nursery in Hwaseong ( Gyeonggi Province ) in November 2022.
According to police, the director of the kindergarten used blankets and pillows to press on the boy. When the baby struggled, this person even lay on top to hold it for 14 minutes.
After the court's decision, the mother (26 years old) recommended the death penalty. The family said the sentence was light, so they will appeal. The child's father said the defendant said he felt remorse, but never apologized to the victim's family, according to Yonhap.
The victim's father (33 years old) came to Korea in 2011 and got married in 2018. The couple had a baby boy in March 2022.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper