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Court acquits man who accidently suffocated infant son while drunk

Published: 14 Aug. 2025, 19:45

KIM JU-YEON
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The Gwangju District Court in Dong District, Gwangju is pictured in this file photo. [NEWS1]

A district court has acquitted a man accused of causing the death of his 84-day-old son by drinking late into the night and then sleeping beside the infant, who later suffocated.

The Gwangju District Court on Thursday found the man, in his 30s, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors alleged the man failed to fulfill his duty of care when, in July last year, he lay down to sleep next to his 84-day-old son on a mattress in the living room after a night of drinking with a visiting couple. The baby was found dead the next morning, face down.

An autopsy concluded the boy died from suffocation caused by the simultaneous blockage of the nose and mouth.

The child’s mother, the man's wife, told authorities she did not want him punished.

Prosecutors argued that the man's failure to monitor his son amounted to negligence that resulted in death.

"If the scope of parental negligence is drawn too broadly, parents could be held criminally responsible for many common injuries that happen to children at home," the court ruled.

"Drinking alcohol in a household raising a newborn cannot in itself be deemed illegal," the court added. "It is difficult to conclude negligence solely from the fact that the defendant did not wake up during the estimated time of death or notice the death as it happened.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY MOON SANG-HYEOK [[email protected]]