hankyoreh

INCHEON - A 49-year-old woman was arrested on January 14 at a police station in Incheon and charged with having neglected her 12-year-old daughter. The girl, now 12 years old, had recently run away from home and was located by police after having suffered from sexual abuse at the hands of a stranger. In investigating the case, police also concluded that she had suffered from various forms of child neglect.

The woman, who is known only by the initial, K., hid the birth of her daughter when she was born in 1996 because she was worried that her husband would discover that she had an affair, and a baby. She then sent her daughter to a child welfare organization, and in March 2000, she left the child in the care of a 44-year-old woman, identified only as Kim, but has sent childcare expenses to her every month.

Out of fear that her relationship with the father of her child would be detected, the mother did not register the birth of her daughter, which had several consequences for her child. While in Kim’s care, the child was unable to go to school and thus does not know how to read or write the Korean language. The fact that her birth was not registered also means that the child is ineligible for medical insurance.

The girl, only known by the initial N., ran away from the care of the woman identified as Kim last month and then was sexually abused by a man in his 40s. A policeman investigating the case found that she has no resident registration number and her mother is being charged with child neglect.

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