Newborn Abandoned at Garbage Sorting Site... 30-Year-Old Biological Mother Arrested

Police Arrest Biological Mother at Home After CCTV Tracking
Baby Transferred to Hospital...Health Condition Stable

A woman in her 30s who abandoned her newborn baby at a waste recycling center was arrested by the police.

On the 1st, Yonhap News reported that the Women’s Safety Division of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency had urgently arrested and was investigating Ms. A (31, female) on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act (abandonment). Ms. A is suspected of placing her newborn baby boy in a plastic bag and abandoning him in a paper recycling bin at a waste recycling center in Yeonghwa-dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi Province, around 7 p.m. the previous day. It is known that she gave birth to the baby at home that morning and then abandoned the baby near her home at the scene of the incident.

The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. A recycling station in an apartment complex in Seoul / Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The case came to light when a nearby resident passing by at 7:08 p.m. on the same day reported hearing a baby crying from the trash bin. Police who responded to the report found the baby wrapped in a black plastic bag and abandoned at the recycling center and immediately transported the baby to a hospital. Fortunately, the baby was reported to be in good health after being taken to the hospital.

Subsequently, the police began an investigation by analyzing nearby closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage and identified the suspect. Around 9 p.m. on the same day, they arrested Ms. A at her home. The police are investigating Ms. A regarding the motive for the crime and the whereabouts of the baby’s father. Additionally, the baby is scheduled to be placed under protective care in coordination with the child protection team in about three to four days. A police official stated, "We plan to review whether to apply for an arrest warrant after questioning Ms. A."

Meanwhile, a mother who was recently indicted for killing her three-day-old daughter and abandoning the body in a garbage bag was sentenced to prison again in the appellate court following the first trial.

On the 16th of last month, the Criminal Division 1 of the Gwangju High Court (Presiding Judge Park Jeong-hoon) sentenced Ms. Kim (33, female), who was indicted on charges including murder and corpse abandonment, to five years in prison in the appellate trial, the same as the first trial. The appellate court maintained the prison sentence from the first trial and additionally imposed a five-year employment restriction order on Ms. Kim, barring her from working at child-related institutions.

Ms. Kim was tried on charges of killing her daughter after giving birth at an obstetrics clinic on April 4, 2018. Two days later, on April 6, after being discharged from the hospital, she stayed at a motel and killed the baby. Believing she could not raise the child due to financial hardship, she decided to kill the baby. She intentionally turned her crying daughter over on the motel bed, causing her death. Afterwards, Ms. Kim placed the baby’s body in a bag, moved it to her home, and stored it in a freezer. She was also charged with placing the body in a garbage bag and abandoning it at the apartment’s recycling center.

The crime was uncovered during a nationwide survey of infants who had medical birth records but whose births had not been registered. Ms. Kim initially claimed during a local government investigation that she had entrusted the child to her father, but after the police investigation began, she surrendered following family persuasion.