Two Daycare Teachers Who Repeatedly Abused Children Sentenced to One Year in Prison and Arrested in Court at First Trial

Two daycare teachers who abused 12 three-year-old children 114 times over two months were sentenced to one year in prison and taken into custody in court. The court found that the teachers, in their 50s and 30s, had assaulted and emotionally tormented children at the daycare center for about two months starting last December. The center's director was also fined 12 million won for failing to properly oversee the children.

The court ruled that the child victims had been subjected to what amounted to constant abuse, making punishment commensurate with the defendants' guilt unavoidable. It cited the negative impact of child abuse on both the victims and children who witnessed it, as well as the way it undermines trust in the childcare system. However, it imposed a lighter sentence than the three years prosecutors had sought, taking into account that the defendants were first-time offenders and had reached settlements with some of the victims' families.

Most of the victimized families, who had refused settlements and demanded heavy punishment, broke down in tears in the courtroom when the sentence was handed down. They called on prosecutors to appeal and seek a severe penalty.

In 2021, a similar case came to light through a parental complaint in which three staff members at a daycare center in Jeonju abused 16 children. In that case, the staff members were sentenced to prison terms of one to two years.