A hospital director and the operating surgeon, indicted on charges of performing a cesarean section on a woman at 36 weeks pregnant to deliver the baby and then causing the baby's death, had their sentences reduced on appeal. The mother, who had been convicted as an accomplice to murder at the first trial, was acquitted on the grounds that it was difficult to conclude she recognized the crime.
The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 5 (Presiding Judge Kim Yong-seok, Director General judge) on the 23rd sentenced hospital director Yoon, who was brought to trial on charges including murder, to four years in prison and a fine of 1.5 million won, and ordered the forfeiture of 9 million won.
The court sentenced Shim, the doctor who performed the surgery, to two years and six months in prison. The panel also ordered Yoon and Shim to be barred for five years each from working at institutions related to children.
At the first trial, Yoon was sentenced to six years in prison and a fine of 1.5 million won, and Shim to four years in prison. The mother, a person surnamed Kwon, was given a three-year prison term, suspended for five years, after the court recognized conditional intent to commit murder.
While the appellate court found Yoon and Shim guilty of murder, it reduced their sentences. It handed suspended prison sentences to two brokers, including a person surnamed Han who introduced patients seeking abortions to Yoon and received a referral fee.
Yoon and Shim were brought to trial on charges of performing a cesarean section in June 2024 on Kwon, who was 34 to 36 weeks pregnant, to deliver the baby and then causing the baby's death.
The key issue on appeal was whether the mother, Kwon, recognized and accepted the possibility that the baby, after being born alive, would be caused to die by the medical staff.
The court found it possible that Kwon, through a broker, was told the baby would come out stillborn. It held that it was difficult to acknowledge intent to kill based solely on the facts that she did not directly verify with the medical staff whether the baby would survive or that she signed a consent form delegating pre-delivery fetal handling procedures to the hospital.
The fact that Kwon posted a video documenting her recovery process after the surgery on a public channel also supported the acquittal. The court found it hard to accept that, if Kwon had known the medical staff would cause the death of a baby born alive, she would have publicly posted the related video.
Accordingly, the appellate court overturned the first-trial finding that Kwon had conditional intent to commit murder and acquitted her.
Regarding the hospital director and the operating surgeon, the court noted that taking a person's life cannot be justified for any reason and said their culpability was grave.
However, it considered as mitigating factors that the crime stemmed from the mother's intention to terminate the pregnancy and that the defendants acknowledged the crime and reflected on it during the appeal.
The case came to light when Kwon posted a video on YouTube about her experience with an abortion procedure. After controversy arose, the Ministry of Health and Welfare requested a police investigation in July 2024, prompting the probe.