Pastor Charged with Causing Death of 11-Year-Old Also Collected Wages as Disability Activity Support Worker

Worked as a Disability Activity Support Worker for the Deceased Child
Received Wages Even While Chaining Child to a Bed

A pastor in his 60s, who was indicted and detained on charges of abusing and causing the death of an 11-year-old child with an intellectual disability at a church in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, was found to have also acted as a disability activity support worker for the child and received wages for these activities.

According to Yonhap News on September 11, Pastor A (in his 60s), who was indicted and detained on charges of causing the death of a child through abuse, registered a total of 15 hours and 30 minutes as activity support service for B (11) from August 3 to 5, even during the month when the child died from the abuse. The disability activity support service is a government program providing assistance to disabled individuals and their families—helping with bathing, housekeeping, nursing, care, and physical activities. Anyone who completes the required training and receives certification can become a support worker.

Hyun Soo-yeop, First Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, is apologizing for the child abuse death case in Cheonan before announcing supplementary measures for the prevention and response to child abuse at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd. Photo by Yonhap News

Prosecutors revealed that on August 2 and August 3, B escaped from the church consecutively and, with the help of citizens, sought out the police. It is reported that B stated during the police investigation that "I was beaten by my maternal grandmother," among other claims. Afterwards, B was returned to the church, and on August 5 at around 8:49 p.m., he was found to have remained chained to a bed for 38 hours before the arrival of emergency responders, following a report from church officials that "B is sick." Records show that during this period, Pastor A recorded activity support work for B.

Pastor A, who was indicted and detained on charges of child abuse resulting in death, and B’s maternal grandmother (in her 50s) told investigators that "B does not follow instructions well, runs away from home and eats without paying, making supervision difficult," and added, "That is why we physically restrained him to prevent B from leaving the church."

According to data received by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Youn, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, from Cheonan City, B was allocated 120 hours of activity support service. Cheonan City accepted the activity support service application in April, processed one appeal, and officially approved the service on June 23. Thereafter, B received 22 hours and 30 minutes of activity support service in June, 114 hours and 30 minutes in July, and 15 hours and 30 minutes in August.

The police believe that while acting as a disability activity support worker, Pastor A abused B and also logged service hours using the disability activity support voucher card, collecting wages in the process. An official from the Chungnam Provincial Police Agency stated, "While investigating the information received from Cheonan City regarding the support provided to B, we discovered that Pastor A was also acting as a support worker for B and have conducted an investigation into this," and added, "There was no third-party disability activity support worker who took care of B in this case."

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