Couple Sentenced to Prison in First Trial for Selling 5 Newborns Saying "I Want to Raise a Daughter" and for Abandonment and Abuse

Approaching Single Mothers Online... "I'll Raise Your Child"
Abandonment Due to Dislike of Gender or Saju

A couple in their 40s who approached single mothers online, paid money to give birth to five newborns, and then abandoned or abused them because they were dissatisfied with the babies' gender or fortune were sentenced to prison.

(This photo is not directly related to the article) [Photo by Pixabay]

On the 29th, Judge Jang Min-ju of the Daejeon District Court Criminal Division 11 announced that A (48, female) and B (46), who were indicted on charges of child trafficking, child abuse, and child abandonment and neglect under the Child Welfare Act, were sentenced to four years and two years in prison, respectively. The court also ordered them to complete 80 hours of child abuse treatment programs and banned them from working in child-related institutions for five years.

They were charged with buying and selling five newborns from four biological mothers five times between January 2020 and August 2021, paying between 1 million and 10 million won each time. Wanting to have a daughter but unable to conceive or adopt, they approached pregnant single mothers considering abortion or adoption through online communities and internet portals. They persuaded them by promising to raise the babies and provide financial support, effectively purchasing the infants like commodities.

Among these, two newborns, including one only a week old, were handed over after the biological mothers said they did not know the babies' gender until just before birth. The couple then abandoned one of the babies in a baby box because the child did not have the gender or fortune they desired.

After taking the children, the couple emotionally and physically abused them, including hitting the babies during marital disputes without any particular reason. Phone records confirmed conversations where they discussed "abandoning the kids" due to parenting stress.

As a remarried couple, they reportedly neglected their parental duties by not exercising visitation rights with children from their previous marriages.

Their crimes were uncovered last July when the local district office requested a police investigation after a full survey of unregistered births revealed that some children’s whereabouts were unknown. Currently, the victim children are either adopted through welfare agencies or protected at child abuse victim centers.

At the sentencing hearing, A’s side pleaded for leniency, stating, "I committed the crime under an obsessive belief that raising a girl would make my marriage happy," and asked for consideration given the intention to actually raise the children. They also argued, "The discipline was not beyond social norms, and since we consulted with staff before abandoning the baby in the baby box, it does not constitute abandonment or neglect."

However, the first-instance court rejected their claims, stating, "Their actions constitute abuse beyond permissible limits, and they only informed the staff of the child's birth date after secretly leaving the baby box because they unexpectedly encountered the staff."

Judge Jang stated, "They committed child trafficking without remorse, driven by a distorted belief to overcome marital difficulties, physically and emotionally abused the children, and abandoned them in a baby box. They treated the children not as individuals but as means to fulfill their desires, which is highly condemnable."