A number of cases in which parents murdered their children have been making the news since the start of the new year. Experts say that one of the causes of these horrific cases is the breakdown of families. (Image : Pixabay)
GOSEONG, Feb.15 (Korea Bizwire) – A number of cases in which parents murdered their children have been making the news since the start of the new year. Experts say that one of the causes of these horrific cases is the breakdown of families.
Police in Gyeongnam Province reported that Park (42, female), a housewife who ran away from home due to problems with her husband, confessed that she killed her seven-year-old daughter and buried her five years ago. She beat her daughter to death for damaging furniture and clothing at an acquaintance’s house, where they were staying.
On February 8, Lee (49, male) suffocated his son to death. Lee fed his son sleeping pills and put a plastic bag over his head, claiming that he was scared because his son kept asking about his mother who ran away, and that his son would inherit his mental disease. Lee was living with his son after his wife left them.
A pastor and his second wife were arrested for beating their 13-year-old daughter to death and keeping her body in the house for 11 months. Finally, parents who killed their seven-year-old son and kept his body in a freezer for over three years were arrested, shocking the public.
Experts say that parental separation resulting from domestic trouble, abnormal home environments, and inadequate social support systems is leading to horrific cases in which parents kill their children.
Professor Lee Soo-jeong, an expert in criminal psychology, commented on the case in which a mother killed her own daughter and kept it a secret for five years. “A mother killing her own child is a very abnormal case. A broken family, leaving home, and having no social resources could have exposed Park to a desperate situation, making her insensitive to violence,” she said.
Experts also say that parents considering children as ‘their property’ can also be seen as a cause of the tragic crimes.
They explain that Korean society still has a fixed idea in which children are considered as property or appendages of their parents, instead being thought of as other individuals.
In addition, the police focused on the fact that there have been many cases in which parents murdered their children while police were investigating long term disappearances of children across the nation.
Police officials point out that the current system lacks the basis for educational or judicial authorities to interfere with households in which parents stop sending their children to school. They emphasize the need for legal grounds that would allow government organizations to take quick measures to intervene in these types of cases.
The need for a social safety net that prevents people with broken families and financial difficulties from making reckless decisions is also being suggested.
By Francine Jung (francine.jung@kobizmedia.co.kr)
