This image is unrelated to the article. [AI-generated image via Gemini]
This image is unrelated to the article. [AI-generated image via Gemini]

A couple in their 20s charged with murdering their infant son through neglect collected more than 12 million won ($14,100) in government and municipal child-rearing subsidies while the baby starved to death, it has emerged.

Welfare payments issued in the name of the seven-month-old boy, identified only as A, totaled 12.17 million won from December last year through July — the month he died of malnutrition, Yonhap reported.

The breakdown included 8 million won in parental benefit payments, 2 million won in a first-meeting voucher, 1.05 million won in other child-rearing subsidies, 820,000 won in child allowance and 300,000 won in a birth incentive grant.

Even in the month A died, payment records show 1.1 million won was disbursed — including 1 million won in parental benefits and 105,000 won in child allowance.

The Daejeon District Prosecutors Office indicted and detained the boy's parents on charges including child abuse homicide on July 31.

Investigators found the couple had repeatedly left their newborn son unattended for long periods while absorbed in online games at PC cafes.

Neither parent held a steady job, though neither had a history of mental illness or other medical conditions.

At the time of his death, A weighed just over 3 kilograms — less than half the standard weight of roughly 8 kilograms for a seven-month-old boy. An autopsy by the National Forensic Service concluded he died of malnutrition and dehydration.

Yet over the seven months of his life, no warning signs were detected by the government, local authorities or police.

A Daejeon city investigation found A had not been flagged by either the e-Child Happiness Support System or the welfare blind-spot detection system.

Both systems use administrative data — including missed health checkups, utility disconnections and unpaid national health insurance premiums — to identify at-risk children and households, prompting civil servants to conduct in-person checks.

A city official said A had received infant health checkups and completed one round of mandatory vaccinations, so the systems detected nothing unusual.

Police also found no prior reports of child abuse or domestic violence involving A or his parents.

However, investigators found that some of the subsidy payments appear to have been spent on PC cafe visits and gaming rather than child-rearing.

"Transaction records from the suspects' accounts, into which the government subsidies were deposited, show spending at PC cafes and on in-game purchases," a police official said. "However, because other income unrelated to the subsidies was also deposited into the same accounts, it is difficult to conclude definitively that the government funds were misappropriated for PC cafe use."

The fact that payments flowed uninterrupted from birth to death — while no one verified the child's safety — has prompted calls to build direct checks on a child's survival and wellbeing into the subsidy disbursement process.

Civic group Free Hands has used the case to call for mandatory infant health checkups — four screenings required between 14 days and 24 months of age — to be made a legal obligation for guardians, with child allowance payments suspended for those who fail to comply.

"Rather than spending new budget on a separate system for universal inspections, we should strengthen infant safety checks by leveraging the existing infant health checkup program, which already has high compliance rates," a Free Hands official said. The group proposed a three-step response: mobile and phone reminders, in-person home visits by caseworkers, and a temporary suspension of child allowance payments for those who ultimately refuse to comply.

A petition to the National Assembly seeking the drafting of a regulatory proposal along these lines is currently under way through the public consent petition system.

"This case should not end with holding the parents accountable," said lawmaker Park Jeong-hyeon. "It is time to seriously rethink our child welfare system — one that puts the child first — and use this death as the impetus to do so."


husn7@heraldcorp.com