Trying to kill your kid isn't child abuse? Rise in cases sparks calls for legal changes.
Published: 27 Aug. 2025, 18:17
Updated: 27 Aug. 2025, 19:05
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- LEE SOO-JUNG
- [email protected]
![The Korea News Editors’ Association holds a debate session on prevention of suicide and filicides at the Seoul Press Center in central Seoul on Aug. 26. [KOREA NEWS EDITOR'S ASSOCIATION]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/08/27/24d3e6ac-d908-4975-bb32-8dfb97ed6133.jpg)
The Korea News Editors’ Association holds a debate session on prevention of suicide and filicides at the Seoul Press Center in central Seoul on Aug. 26. [KOREA NEWS EDITOR'S ASSOCIATION]
A legal expert on Tuesday urged Korean society to recognize young survivors of parental murder attempts as child abuse victims by law, noting that today’s narrow legal definition exposes them to lifelong trauma during a debate hosted by the Korea News Editors’ Association in central Seoul.
Criminology Prof. Won Hye-wook of Inha University said filicide should be specified as child abuse in law. Filicide is the act of a parent killing their own offspring.
The Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes — referred to below as the Child Abuse Crime Act — does not explicitly define filicide as a child abuse crime.
Won pointed out that the omission left those who committed filicide unpunished on child abuse charges, despite their actions being similar to child abuse in nature — inflicting harm on children’s health and welfare.
![A graph shows yearly cases of child deaths due to filicide-parental suicide [CHUN YU-JIN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/08/27/9c7fc2fb-8de1-45ff-b5d2-379dc4e93ac4.jpg)
A graph shows yearly cases of child deaths due to filicide-parental suicide [CHUN YU-JIN]
Korea saw an increase in filicide–parental suicide cases in recent years.
A report from the Ministry of Health and Welfare published last year said 23 children were killed by their parents, who later attempted to take their own lives, in 2023. The figure was 14 in 2022 and 2021, 12 in 2020, and 9 in 2019.
Won said the Child Abuse Crime Act allows judges to raise the penalty if a child victim was found to have died of child abuse, characterized by repeated occurrences.
However, child abuse evidence was rarely found in cases of filicides accompanied by parental suicide attempts, preventing law enforcement agencies from applying child abuse charges against surviving parents.
Parental suicides following filicide were frequently observed among households that were once in the middle-income bracket and faced economic hardships, Won said.
In January last year, a 46-year-old mother attempted to die with her children in Yesan, South Chungcheong, after losing more than 100 million won (around $71,560) in an investment scam. Her third-grader son died, and her second-grader daughter was injured with permanent brain damage. The mother survived and was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of murder.
![An undated image showing a parental figure and a child [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/08/27/4a4e9921-a62c-46a3-a229-ff56e815904d.jpg)
An undated image showing a parental figure and a child [JOONGANG ILBO]
Won said the parents often claim to have “altruistic motives,” an excuse stemming from strong familism — a perspective prevalent in Korea and Japan that prevents parents from treating children as independent individuals.
“Multiple cases showed that the parents had attempted to kill their children before taking their lives, believing ‘the children would be miserable without them,’” the professor said.
Won’s research team analyzed verdicts of 121 filicide cases with parental suicide attempts that happened between 2014 and this year — all of which the parents survived. Of them, only 43 cases were found guilty of violating the Child Abuse Crime Act.
The average age of filicide victims was 7.1 years.
Won said the verdicts showed that some parents killed or attempted to kill their children when they were asleep or even resisting, noting the brutality of their actions.
Their findings also revealed that parents received 9.78 years of prison on average if their children died. Among 61 failed filicide cases, 47 parents received suspended sentences.
“The figure tells that our legal system is offender-oriented,” Won said.
![A vehicle belonging to the family with a 10-year-old child is lifted out of the water near Songgok Harbor in Wando, South Jeolla in June 2022. Police concluded that the child’s parent died of suicide along with their child in the car. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/08/27/3b622b3d-ae6e-4505-9daf-480a6a7fa5e8.jpg)
A vehicle belonging to the family with a 10-year-old child is lifted out of the water near Songgok Harbor in Wando, South Jeolla in June 2022. Police concluded that the child’s parent died of suicide along with their child in the car. [YONHAP]
The Child Abuse Crime Act allows the state to restrain and deprive parental rights over child abuse victims.
“To let filicide offenders lose custodial and parental authority, survivors of filicide should be recognized as child abuse victims,” Won said, adding that Korea should benchmark overseas well-established practices, such as appointing legal guardians to protect children.
Yet, Won said it is disappointing to see that the most common solution done for victims of child abuse and filicide is “return to their home” — a measure seen as the most ideal in a society with strong familism.
Won said filicide victims are likely to struggle with their childhood trauma throughout their lives. She said suicidal rates of those who experienced filicide attempts at the age of four or under are higher than those who did not.
“If a person grows up without overcoming the trauma of their parents trying to kill them, they are likely to live with anxiety that their lives could be taken by those they trusted,” Won said.
Won additionally asked the society to adopt more victim-oriented language.
Until the early 2020s, Korean society often labeled filicide-parental suicide as “joint suicide,” ignoring children’s decisions and rights to their lives. Won said the term serves an offender-centric narrative.
“Rather than calling it a ‘joint suicide,' our society should raise awareness that the cases are 'murders resulting from child abuse,'” Won said. “We should focus on child victims to prioritize their protection and treatment instead of filicide offenders.”
BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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