Prosecutors have charged five childcare teachers over alleged abuse of infants at a nursery in Gangneung, according to reports from Maeil Shinmun and JoongAng Ilbo. Three teachers were detained and indicted, while two were sent to trial without detention. Most of the children identified as victims were around one year old.
The nursery specialized in infant care and had 19 enrolled children when the alleged abuse occurred. Fourteen children, including children with disabilities and from multicultural families, were reported as victims. Police referred seven people, including the nursery director and teachers, to prosecutors; reports said charging decisions for the other two were still under review.
Parents’ footage review produced a separate incident count
A parents’ emergency committee said families examined roughly two months of surveillance footage and identified about 500 scenes they considered signs of physical abuse involving children from eight families. The committee said more than 300 suspected incidents involved one child. Those figures cannot be treated as 500 confirmed criminal acts: they are the parents’ count of suspicious scenes, while the reported total of 14 victims covers a broader group of children.
- Teachers charged
- Five, including three detained defendants
- Children enrolled
- 19 at the time of the alleged abuse
- Reported victims
- 14 children, most around one year old
- Footage reviewed
- Approximately two months, according to parents
The footage was reported to show teachers striking children on the face or head, pushing a toy into a child’s mouth, hitting a child’s face with an object and leaving a crying child in a corner. Parents also described scenes in which a child was knocked over with a ball, struck on the back with a fist, hit on the head with a fork during a meal or prodded on the forehead with a crayon. These descriptions remain allegations to be tested in court.
Parents are calling for severe punishment and asking investigators to consider possible emotional harm to children who witnessed other children being struck, not only alleged direct physical abuse. The prosecution of five teachers moves the case into court, but the supplied reports do not state the specific charge assigned to each defendant, the number of alleged acts included in the indictments or the status of the two other people referred by police beyond the reported review.