Two Middle School Girls Who Committed Extreme Suicide Were Suffering from 'Sexual Assault and Child Abuse'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim So-young] It has been confirmed that the two female middle school students found dead in an apartment in Cheongju, Chungbuk, were victims of sexual crimes and child abuse, respectively.

According to the police on the 13th, at around 5:11 p.m. the previous day, a security guard at an apartment in Ochang-eup, Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju City, discovered second-year middle school students A and B collapsed in a flower bed and reported it to the police. When the rescue team arrived at the scene, both students were already unconscious and not breathing. They were transported to a nearby hospital while receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation but ultimately passed away.

They were attending different middle schools in the area and had recently undergone police investigations due to crime victimization. It is known that they had been receiving counseling from the same counseling center and left suicide notes before jumping from the apartment rooftop.

The police had filed charges against a man identified as C, who sexually assaulted one of the deceased female middle school students in March, under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes, and applied for arrest and detention warrants, but these were dismissed. At that time, the prosecution returned the warrants citing the need for supplementary investigation.

Regarding the other student, suspicions of child abuse were recognized, and a joint investigation was conducted with the local government and the Child Protection Agency.

※ If you or someone around you is experiencing difficult feelings such as depression or other hard-to-talk-about concerns, you can receive 24-hour professional counseling through suicide prevention hotlines ☎1577-0199, Hope Phone ☎129, Lifeline ☎1588-9191, and Youth Phone ☎1388.