Infanticide and baby abandonment in South Korea
Introduction
In many societies, infanticide and baby abandonment have been huge social health issues. Many children are falling the victims of infanticide and child-rearing abandonment by their parents. In South Korea, there are aspects of the culture that are directly connected to and contribute to these social health issues.
definition
1.Infanticide: The intentional killing of children who are under 12 months. It is also called infant homicide. Generally, mothers of infants are slightly more likely than fathers to be perpetrators for infanticide.
2.Baby Abandonment : Baby abandonment refers to parents, guardians, or caregivers intentional abandoning or deserting a child younger than 12 months without any regard for the child's health, safety and welfare.
Statistics
- First low: The number of abandoned babies Second : the number of infanticide
-The first Low : ages under 20,
Second : 21-30,
Third : 31-40,
Fourth : 41-50,
The last : over 50
- The total number of abandonment in each year in Korea
-Purple line: The total number of abandoned babies in Korea, Green Line: The number of babies abandoned in Baby box in Korea
Current law in South Korea
In South Korea, Infanticide and baby abandonment are defined in Part 2 of the Crimes Act as follows,
PART II INDIVIDUAL PROVISIONS
| CHAPTER XXIV CRIMES OF HOMICIDE |
|---|
| Article 251 (Infanticide) |
| -A lineal ascendant who kills a baby while being delivered or immediately after the delivery in order to avoid disgrace or for fear of the impossibility of bringing the baby up or for some other extenuating motive shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than ten years. |
| CHAPTER XXVIII CRIMES OF ABANDONMENT AND MALTREATMENT |
|---|
| Article 271 (Abandonment of Lineal Ascendant) |
| (1) A person who abandons another person in need of help by reason of old age, infancy, illness or other circumstances, whom one has a legal or contractual duty to protect, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three years, or a fine not exceeding five million won. <Amended by Act No. 5057, Dec. 29, 1995> |
| (2) When the crime as referred to in paragraph (1) is committed on lineal ascendant of the offender or of his/her spouse, the offender shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than ten years, or a fine not exceeding 15 million won. <Amended by Act No. 5057, Dec. 29, 1995> |
| (3) A person who, in consequence of his/her commission of the crime of paragraph (1), endangers the life of another, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than seven years. |
| (4) A person who, in consequence of his/her commission of the crime of paragraph (2), endangers the life of another, shall be punished by limited imprisonment for at least two years. |
| Article 272 (Abandoning Baby) |
| A lineal ascendant who abandons a baby in order to avoid disgrace or for fear of not being able to bring the baby up or for some other extenuating motives, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years or by a fine not exceeding three million won. <Amended by Act No. 5057, Dec. 29, 1995> |
Explanations for
Abortion Law in South Korea
In South Korea, Abortion is illegal except some circumstances, for example, unwanted pregnancy from a rape. Since the abortion law was renewed, someone who had an unprotected sex and became pregnant has no choice except having a birth. In Confucian society like South Korea, giving a birth or having sex without wedlock can be seen as a shame or stigma. Thus, many young women choose to abandon a child or kill a child to hide the fact of giving a birth.
| CHAPTER XXVII THE CRIMES OF ABORTION |
|---|
| Article 269 (Abortion) |
| 1) A woman who procures her own miscarriage through the use of drugs or other means shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding two million won. <Amended by Act No. 5057, Dec. 29, 1995> |
| (2) The provision of paragraph (1) shall apply to a person who procures the miscarriage of a woman upon her request or with her consent. <Amended by Act No. 5057, Dec. 29, 1995> |
| (3) A person who in consequence of the commission of the crime of the as referred to in paragraph (2), causes the injury of a woman, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three years. When one causes a woman’s death in consequence of the commission of the crime as referred to in paragraph (2), he/she shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than seven years. <Amended by Act No. 5057, Dec. 29, 1995> |
The new adoption law in Korea Since 2012
- The new adoption law was renewed to make it easier to find their biological family when adopted persons want it later in their lives. However, the new adoption law has had a side effect. If the mother wants to give a baby up for adoption, no matter what the mother first need to legally register the newborns under her Family register which will show this record permanently. Due to new adoption law, It is hard to give the baby up for adoption anonymously. This might be a very big deal in Confucian Korean society. This could be the stigma of premarital births for the woman. For some women, the shame of stigma is too big and might decide to desert their newborns than register the newborns. As you can see from the graph #3 and #4 in Statistics section, After the new adoption law began in 2012, the number of babies abandoned increased.
Teenage Pregnancy
Due to lack of sex education and contraceptive in South Korea, Teens have high possibilities to have an unprotected sex and become pregnant. As result of unavailable abortions or other options, Some teens secretly give a birth alone at public washrooms or motels and abandon a baby or kill a baby so that no one will find out about their pregnancies and giving births. Also, teenage pregnancy is a social stigma as a premarital pregnancy or a single mother's pregnancy.
female discrimination
In Korean society, people strongly believes that raising a baby is mother's work not father's. Mothers take full charge of nursing the baby which put mother to be under great strain. Also, Many of female have to quit their jobs or get fired from their jobs because of pregnancy. For some women, the pressure is too large, might have wrong decision like killing their own babies or dumping the babies. As above it mentioned, Premarital births is believed to be assumed or something need to be hided particularly apply to only females. Some young women are scared that others find out about the premarital birth, They intend to abandon a child or commit to kill a child. The above graph # 3, the age of infanticide perpetrators, it shows that out of total 46 infanticide perpetrators, 33 of perpetrators are ages under 30.
psychiatric
Post partum depression can also be a explanation of infanticide and baby abandonment. One study described that childbirth and lactation involve serious stress on the mothers and that under certain circumstances attempts at infanticide and suicide are common. Especially, such a society of South Korea where women deal with severe stresses about child rearing and house works, have high possibilities of Post-partum depression. Korean people believes that mothers are the one who have to sacrifice themselves for babies. They lost their jobs, identities and lives over the gender role of being a mother. Approximately, 80% of mothers in Korea experienced Post-partum depression within 4-6 weeks after the birth. In addition to postpartum disorder, dissociative psychopathology and sociopathy have also been found to be correlated with neonaticide in some cases.
The Baby Box
Globally, the Debate about the Baby box has been around for many years. In Korea, there are two controversial opinions on the merit of having the baby box. Some believes that the baby box facilitate deserting infants, others believes that the baby box is helping infants from dying caused by irresponsible dumping(Some babies had been dumped in severe cold weather or hot weather without any regard for baby's health).
Pastor Jong-rak Lee created the baby box to taking abandoned babies since 2009. However, Pastor Jong-rak Lee strongly believe that the baby box help to prevent from infanticide and abandonment of babies.
Caregivers allow to abandon their babies anonymously. The box contains a warm towel and lights to keep it heated for baby's safety. When caregivers place a baby into the box, a bell rings so that Pastor or staffs of the church can come immediately and take care of the baby(see the pictures). 383 babies have been placed into the baby box from 2009 to 2015.
Prevention
Improving sex education
In South Korea, sex education is mandatory and taught in secondary schools. However, the content of the sex education is not practical and does not provide the students with relevant information as to what they should do to prevent teenage pregnancy. Instead, much of the focus is on repressing students and instil social stigma in them that sex is socially unacceptable and shameful. In order for teenagers to be more informed about pre-marrital sex, the sex ed needs to include a discussion on how to use contraceptives, for example. In reality, though, topic on the contraseptives is trivialized, and there is clearly a lack of instructors in place, who feel comfortable talking about what actually takes place before, during and after having a premarital sex.
implementing law
Since the implementation of the new adoption law by the South Korean government in 2012, the number of abandoned babies has gone up as shown in the graph. Because the new law allows the adopted children to find their biological mothers with access granted by the law to information about their mothers, many teenage mothers wish to remain anonymous and keep the information confidential leading to their abandoning the responsibility to raise them. Disclosure of the information about the biological mothers to their children should be first consented by the mothers to deal with the increasing number of abandoned babies in recent years. What's more, when a mother wishes to send her child to adoption, under the current law, she must first register the birth under her family record, which stays permanently. This record permanency further puts women at disadvantage and affects their future marriage.
References
http://www.law.go.kr/eng/engLsSc.do?menuId=1&query=형법&x=0&y=0#liBgcolor1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abandonment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infanticide
https://creatingafamily.org/adoption-category/unintended-consequences-babies-abandoned-south-korea/
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/02/11/opinion-divided-merits-south-korean-pastors-baby-box
http://www.kyeongin.com/main/view.php?key=20170215010005579
http://blog.naver.com/childrights/50169208107
http://seoul_scourt.blog.me/220931128435
http://blog.naver.com/churi0321/20055991206
http://www.fnnews.com/news/201611021637196167
https://www.koreabang.com/2013/stories/korean-government-turns-its-back-on-abandoned-babies.html