Jeong-In incident is a child abuse murder case which was happened in 2020 in Yangchun-gu, Seoul. Jeong-In was adopted from the Holt Children's Welfare Association when she was eight months old. Jeong-In was killed by continuous child abuse of her adoptive mother, Jang Ha Young, and her adoptive father, An Seong Eun.

Even there were three times child abuse reports by Jeong-In's preschool teacher, an acquaintance of her adoptive mother, and a hospital doctor, the conclusion of police to Jeong-In's adoptive mother was none of the child abuse charges. Eventually, Jeong-In died on October 13 by pancreatic rupture and fractures of the occipital, clavicle, femur, and more. According to the CT images, the entire abdominal cavity was filled with blood because of the bleeding. And, this cruel incident was widely known by the TV program, 'The Its Know' and it caused a public furor.

After the broadcast of 'The Its Know', this incident became a big issue. So, Jeong-In's adoptive mother's heinous atrocities and horrifying duality, and poor response from the police were criticized. Also, many activities to cease child abuse was done like "Jeong-In, I'm sorry Challange." In accordance with this public outrage, at the primary trial, the adoptive mother, Jang Ha Young was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment, and adoptive father An Seong Eun, was sentenced to five years of imprisonment and expressed his intention to appeal.

Jeong-In Incident caused great social anger and gave our society a chance to think of the seriousness of the child abuse problem and the inadequate response of the police. Thus, it has caused such a great social stir that special laws on child abuse are tabled. To prevent the second Jeong-In Incident, people's responsibility to report immediately when child abuse is suspected seems to be necessary.

May 29th, 2021

by Changhyuk An