At the Same Orphanage Again... "Looks Like a Foreigner, Not My Child" Abandonment Case Uncovered After 10 Years

Abandoned Twice in Front of the Same Orphanage

A couple received suspended prison sentences after being convicted of abandoning two infants upon confirming that the babies, who resembled foreigners in appearance or skin color, were not the husband's biological children.

A baby box installed at Jusarang Community Church. The photo is not directly related to the content of the article. Jusarang Community Church

According to the legal community on July 12, a woman in her twenties, referred to as A, lived with a man, B, in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province in 2005 and gave birth to a child. Until just before the birth, B believed the baby was his own, but the newborn's skin color and appearance were entirely different from his. Concluding that the child was not his, B decided to abandon the baby, and A agreed. Together, they went to an orphanage, and just one month after the birth, they left the baby at the front gate of an orphanage located in northern Gyeonggi Province and fled.

Later, in 2008, A and B met again. At that time, A was again pregnant, and B believed that the child was his, so he registered their marriage. That same March, they gave birth to a child together in a container on a farm owned by A's parents and raised the child together. However, as the child grew over the course of about a year, the skin tone and appearance increasingly resembled those of a foreigner. Fearing B's questioning, in March 2009, A left their home, telling her parents, with whom she was living, "It's my husband's payday, I'll go withdraw some money," entrusted the child to them, and ran away with B's bankbook.

B, who had begun to suspect that the child might not be his biological child, became convinced after A ran away. Ultimately, in the same month, B and A's father went to the same orphanage where they had abandoned the first child and left the second child there before fleeing.

Their crimes remained undetected for over a decade, but in 2024, a local government investigation into children with birth records who had not enrolled in elementary school uncovered the case.

The whereabouts of the two abandoned children remain unknown. However, it has been determined that both are alive and have grown up safely as of now.

The Uijeongbu District Court Criminal Division 9 (Judge Kim Bohyun) sentenced A to one year and six months in prison, suspended, and B to one year in prison, suspended, for violating the Child Welfare Act. The court found that A acted with conditional intent, knowing that if she ran away, her husband B would abandon the child.

The court stated, "In particular, defendant A deceived her husband into believing the victimized child was his biological child, raised the child together, and then abandoned her duty of care by leaving home without notice, which is highly blameworthy. However, taking into account the fact that the children have been confirmed alive and that the defendants have confessed and shown remorse for their wrongdoing, the sentences were determined comprehensively."

Meanwhile, it was reported that the subject of the 2024 investigation was a different child, not the two abandoned in this case; in that matter, no criminal charges were recognized, and the case was closed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.