"Go Out and Die" Midwinter Cold Water Bath Abuse, Child Overcomes and Goes to Police Alone

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Ju Cheol-in] As adoptive parents accused of abusing an adopted child by leaving the child alone in a one-room apartment have been brought to trial, it was recently revealed that the victim child himself went to the police to disclose the abuse.

According to the police on the 28th, A, a fourth grader in elementary school in December 2020, voluntarily visited a police substation in Gyeongnam and revealed the abuse he had suffered from his adoptive parents.

The police, prosecution, and counseling agencies determined that A had been subjected to emotional and physical abuse and neglect by his adoptive parents for a considerable period.

A, who was adopted by a family in Gyeongnam right after birth, had been living alone in a one-room apartment some distance away from the family home since 2020, when he was in the fourth grade.

A’s adoptive mother installed a two-way camera in the one-room apartment, which had no TV or desk, to monitor A.

A revealed that while living almost alone in the one-room apartment, his adoptive parents bathed him with cold water even in the middle of winter and did not provide proper heating, so he had to sleep with the only blanket he had, half covering and half under him.

The adoptive father, who bathed A with cold water, justified his actions by saying, “Soldiers enter icy water even in winter,” and did not stop the forced baths.

A also testified that he had to eat only fried rice without side dishes and was verbally abused by his adoptive mother with phrases like “Go die,” “Bang your head against the wall,” and “Don’t come home anymore.” A, who had to eat in front of the camera, called the food he ate “dog food.”

A pleaded, “I don’t want to freeze to death,” and “I want to live in a warm world.”

In November 2020, he also wrote a note saying, “It’s too hard. I’m so depressed. My heart hurts because of my mom,” and “Please help me change!”

The Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office indicted A’s adoptive parents last year on charges of child abuse without detention. Since the investigative agencies recognized the abuse, A has been separated from his adoptive parents and is living in another area.

A’s adoptive mother is known to have explained that she raised the child in the one-room apartment and installed the camera to protect him.