Authorities in Gwangju’s Gwangsan District have classified the conduct of two childcare teachers as physical abuse and neglect following a review connected to the death of a one-year-old child at a daycare center. The child was found dead while sleeping at the facility in July, prompting separate inquiries into the circumstances of the death and the teachers’ treatment of children.
The district reached its assessment at a child abuse case review meeting on October 27. Officials examined two months of interior surveillance footage supplied by police and said some recordings showed a teacher pushing a child. They found no footage of a teacher directly striking a child, according to the district’s account.
- Child’s death
- A one-year-old was found dead while sleeping at the daycare center in July
- Evidence reviewed
- Two months of interior surveillance footage provided by police
- District decision
- Two teachers’ conduct was classified as physical abuse and neglect
Reviewers also identified circumstances in which necessary care was not actively provided and classified that conduct as neglect. Lawyers and professors participated in the review, which considered the teachers’ overall behavior rather than judging only isolated scenes. The available evidence does not specify how often the conduct occurred or provide a full account of each teacher’s actions.
The district finding does not decide criminal liability
The district’s finding is an administrative case assessment without binding legal force. It was conducted separately from the police investigation and does not establish criminal guilt. It also does not determine that abuse or neglect caused the child’s death, leaving the death investigation and the assessment of the teachers’ conduct as distinct questions.
Police are investigating the case on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. Gwangsan District plans to decide whether to impose administrative measures, including possible qualification suspensions for daycare personnel, after the police investigation produces its findings. Until then, both individual criminal responsibility and any causal connection between the reviewed conduct and the child’s death remain unresolved.