Woman who killed 7-month-old twin daughters says disabilities, stress were motives
Published: 27 Aug. 2025, 11:46
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A mother who killed her twin infant daughters born through in vitro fertilization (IVF) cited the likelihood of the children having permanent disabilities and her own parenting stress as motives, according to court proceedings.
On Tuesday, the Gwangju High Court concluded appeal hearings for a woman in her 40s who was sentenced to eight years in prison during the first trial for murdering her children.
The woman was indicted on charges of suffocating her seven-month-old daughters to death at their home in Yeosu, South Jeolla, on Nov. 18 last year. She turned herself in after attempting to take her own life.
According to prosecutors, the woman had conceived the twins through IVF after a prior miscarriage. The babies were born extremely premature at just 26 weeks, each weighing less than 600 grams (1.3 pounds). After receiving four months of intensive neonatal care, the twins were discharged from the hospital.
During follow-up outpatient treatment, doctors reportedly told the woman that the twins might suffer from lifelong disabilities. The woman testified in court that she experienced severe stress, exacerbated by verbal abuse from her husband and a complete lack of support for child care.
“I was terrified that my daughters would face a lifetime of social stigma and suffering due to their disabilities,” she said in court. “My husband never helped with the babies and constantly criticized me.”
She also testified that when her husband suggested placing the children in a care facility, “it felt like everything I had devoted myself to was being denied.”
She added that postpartum depression left her both physically and mentally broken.
The lower court recognized her mental state as a “mitigating circumstance,” sentencing her to eight years in prison for what it classified as a murder committed with “sympathetic motives.”
However, prosecutors challenged that view in the appeals court, arguing, “No matter the circumstances, a parent does not have the right to take a child’s life. Accepting such a justification risks normalizing infanticide.”
Prosecutors requested a heavier sentence from the appeals court.
The woman’s husband also appeared in court and took responsibility, saying, “This is all my fault. My wife didn’t even want to appeal, but I urged her to.”
At the first hearing of the appeal last month, he asked the court for leniency, saying, “I never took my wife’s depression seriously and failed to support her. If I had shown her even a little kindness, none of this would have happened.”
The final verdict is scheduled for Sept. 16.
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 JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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