SEOUL: A woman in her 30s accused of killing her three-year-old daughter in 2020 confessed to the murder, the South Korean police said on Tuesday (March 24), changing her testimony after a lie detector test found her to be lying.
The suspect recently confessed to the charges in a police investigation, admitting that she had strangled the child to death, according to the Siheung Police Station in Gyeonggi Province.
When asked why she had committed the crime, the woman said it was “because I didn’t want to raise my daughter”.
In previous testimonies, the suspect had maintained that she had found the child dead, covered by a blanket.
Based on the recent findings, the police are considering changing the criminal charge from child abuse leading to death to murder.
The woman is also accused of burying the child’s body.
The crime was only revealed after education officials noticed that the child did not attend school after reaching school age.
The suspect and her boyfriend, who is not the father, delayed admission for a year, and even disguised the boyfriend’s niece as the victim in the admission process.
The boyfriend is also under criminal investigation as an accomplice in the crime.
The ministry of education expressed its condolences on March 23, vowing to prevent similar accidents by working with local governments and education offices to search for at-risk children.
The ministry also conducted investigations into six children who were not admitted to schools in 2026.
It was able to confirm the safety of two and is in the process of checking on the other four. - The Korea Herald/ANN
