A man and a woman in their 40s have been sentenced to prison for abandoning or selling their children.
The Busan District Court Criminal Division 10 (Judge Heo Seong-min) announced on the 21st that it sentenced Mr. A, a man in his 40s, to 1 year and 2 months in prison for violations of the Child Welfare Act (abandonment and neglect of a child, child trafficking).
Ms. B, a woman in her 40s, who was indicted on the same charges, received a sentence of 2 years in prison with 3 years of probation.
The court ordered them to be restricted from employment in child-related institutions for 3 years and to complete 40 hours of child abuse treatment programs.
Mr. A and Ms. B, who had been in a relationship since 2008, are accused of abandoning the boy they had together and trafficking their daughter.
Mr. A, who had a wife, contacted Mr. C, who had posted online in March 2013 that he wanted to adopt a baby, after Ms. B gave birth to a boy at an obstetrics clinic in Busan's Saha District.
Later, in April of the same year, they handed the child over to Mr. C and his wife, who came to the clinic without proper identification.
Mr. A and Ms. B committed a similar crime five years later.
When Ms. B gave birth to a girl in January 2018 at a hospital in Dongnae District, Mr. A posted online that he was looking for someone to take in a newborn.
He then had Mr. D, who contacted him after seeing the post, come to a hospital in Seo District, Busan, and told him to pay the hospital bill (288,000 won) before taking the child.
Therefore, he effectively sold his daughter after receiving the hospital fee.
Judge Heo stated, 'They abandoned the child shortly after birth without following legal procedures,' and noted, 'Even after committing the same crime once, they again sold another child after giving birth, making their culpability serious.'
He emphasized, 'The girl was not handed over to someone capable of proper care, as she was born somewhat premature,' and 'She grew up for a long time in an unhealthy and abnormal environment without even being registered before the crime was discovered.'
Meanwhile, Mr. A was separately sentenced to 1 year in prison for charges of unlicensed driving, embezzlement, fraud, and document forgery.