On October 13, 2020, a 16-month-old child died in a cold emergency room after three cardiac arrests. Compared to her peers, she was noticeably dwarfed, had bruises all over her body, and her entire abdomen was full of blood due to bleeding from a torn internal organ. The name of the dead child is Jeong-in. Jeong-in, who was adopted by her adoptive parents around seven months old, left for the sky 271 days after her adoption. The medical team determined that the traces of the damage revealed to the child's body were not just accidents but child abuse, and they reported it to the police. The adoptive mother, Jang, claims it was just an accident. According to Jang, the child shook in anger because she did not listen and dropped Jeong-in because of the pain from her chest surgery.

▲ A 16-month-old child died in a cold emergency room after three cardiac arrest.

After the production team of “I Want to Know That" began to cover the truth about the incident, more than 300 reports were poured out. The more testimonies from informants were accumulated, the more shocking the situation about the abuse was outlined. Jang and her husband seemed to aspire to adopt, take care of, and love their children by working in adoption-related organizations and participating in family gatherings, but the reality was completely different. The traces of the numerous abuses left on Jeong-in's body were never created overnight. The adoptive parents, Jang and her husband did nothing the day before Jeong-in died, even after hearing about the child's serious condition from a daycare center.

▲ The adoptive parents did nothing the day before Jeong-in died.

In the process of reporting child abuse three times, the Jang couple consistently maintained that everything was only prejudicing against adoptive families. However, they killed a healthy 16-month-old child. Prosecutors have now indicted Jang on charges of child abuse, not murder. Jang claims that Jeong-in's death was not "intentional" but a "mistake." Nonetheless, experts said that simple mistakes do not produce enough external force to cut the child's pancreas. Therefore, the production team conducted an experiment with experts to measure the external force applied to the child on the day of the incident, and as a result, they found surprising facts. It is because a woman of the same physique had to put her child on the floor and jumped off the sofa and stepped on the child to get out. Was the act of violence that led to the death of 16-month-old Jeong-in a mistake?

▲ ˝Hashtag Sorry, Jeong-in˝ challenge became widely known.

After the broadcast about Jeong-in's death, the "hashtag Sorry, Jeong-in" challenge became widely known. The trending topics challenge for "I'm Sorry, Jeong-in" is said to have been proposed by the production team and the Korea Child Abuse Prevention Association. What we need to know is that we should not stop at this challenge. In order not to make a child's death futile, we will have to pay constant attention to make a better world for all children.

January 10th, 2020

by Pyo Seung-hui