A biological mother who abandoned her child born out of wedlock has been sentenced to an actual prison term 15 years after the crime.
Judge Kim Soo-hyun of the Gwangju District Court’s Criminal Division 8 announced on the 24th that A (late 40s), indicted on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act, was sentenced to two years in prison.
A was referred to trial on charges of abandoning her three-month-old son in the yard of a house in an undisclosed location in Incheon in March 2011.
A, who was legally married with children and a husband at the time, gave birth to the baby while cohabiting with a boyfriend but failed to register the birth.
When the boyfriend refused to raise the child, stating, “It might not be my blood,” A abandoned the baby.
A’s crime was uncovered when the government launched a comprehensive investigation in June–July 2023 into so-called “phantom infants”—children with obstetric birth records but no birth registration.
Even after being indicted in 2024, A did not appear in court, and the guilty verdict was handed down 15 years after the crime and two years into the trial.
The court stated, “Although the nature of the crime was very serious and the defendant intentionally failed to appear in court, we took into account the fact that the victim appears to have been adopted domestically,” explaining the sentencing rationale.
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