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Taekwondo instructor sentenced to 30 years for suffocating 5-year-old boy

Published: 10 Apr. 2025, 11:55

Footage of the taekwondo instructor abusing the child in July, released by JTBC on Nov. 11, 2024. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A taekwondo instructor who fatally suffocated a 5-year-old boy by placing him upside down between mattresses was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The Uijeongbu District Court on Thursday sentenced the instructor in his 30s, who was indicted on charges of murder by child abuse. Prosecutors had earlier sought a life sentence.

“The defendant knowingly left the child unattended for about 27 minutes after the abuse, despite being aware that the victim faced a significant risk of death,” the court said. “He also abused other children over an extended period and treated the acts as if they were simply playful, casting serious doubt on whether he is being truthful.”

The court further noted that the instructor attempted to make another instructor commit perjury and tried to cover up the crime by deleting CCTV footage.

The incident took place on July 12 last year at a taekwondo studio in Yangju, Gyeonggi. The instructor stuck the 5-year-old child upside down between stacked up mattresses, leading to the child’s death.

The taekwondo instructor who suffocated a three-year-old child is being handed over to the prosecution from the Uijeongbu Police Precinct in Gyeonggi on July 19. [NEWS1]

Even after discovering the child unconscious, he failed to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and instead focused on erasing security footage, according to investigators.

“Even an ordinary person would have recognized the danger of death,” the court said in its sentencing decision.

Authorities also found that the instructor committed 124 acts of physical and emotional abuse against a total of 26 students. The acts included placing children upside down between mats, pinching their cheeks and striking them.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]