Sept. 9, 2021. Four teachers at a state-run daycare center in Ulsan were sentenced to prison for habitually abusing children, including forcing a three-year-old to drink water until the child vomited.
The Ulsan District Court's eighth criminal single-judge bench, presided over by Judge Jung Hyun-soo, sentenced a childcare teacher identified as A to four years in prison, 80 hours of a child abuse treatment program and a 10-year ban on employment at child-related institutions. A had been indicted on charges including violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.
Three other childcare teachers received prison terms of one to two years, 80 hours of the treatment program and employment bans of seven to 10 years. Prosecutors identified roughly 600 instances of abuse and neglect by the teachers, with 49 children aged up to three years old victimized.
A was indicted on charges of forcing a three-year-old to drink seven cups of water over about 10 minutes in September 2019, causing the child to vomit, and of forcing children to drink water left over by others. Investigators also found that A left children unattended for long periods in spaces out of sight and excluded them from class activities. Sexual abuse was also confirmed, including stripping the lower clothing off boys and girls and making them face each other.
The three other teachers who received prison terms were accused of grabbing children by the back of the neck to force-feed them and then covering their mouths, and of ordering children to hit one another.
Most Teachers Took Part in the Abuse
Six additional teachers at the same daycare center were also put on trial for physical and emotional abuse of children. Taking into account the severity and frequency of their acts, four received prison terms of eight months to one year, suspended for two years, while two were fined 2 million won to 3 million won. All six were banned from employment at child-related institutions for three to five years. The center's director was fined 70 million won for failing to provide proper oversight.
"The court finds that the defendant A's act of making the victim drink water was not mealtime guidance but an offense committed with intent to harm," the court said. "Even though it is extremely dangerous for an infant or toddler to drink an excessive amount of water in a short period, A forced the victim to drink."
"State-run daycare centers are relatively stable in their operation and management and command a high level of trust from parents, yet the defendants committed child abuse," the court said in explaining the sentences. "Although they were mandatory reporters obligated to protect the children in their care, they forgot their duties, allowed the abuse to continue and committed abuse themselves."
Doctors' Group Calls for Attempted Murder Charges
The Korean Pediatric Society submitted an opinion in the case calling for A to be charged with attempted murder. Lim Hyun-taek, then head of the group, wrote on Facebook that "according to recent media reports, a childcare teacher forced a three-year-old to drink seven cups of water over 13 minutes, and the child vomited and even went into convulsions." He added that CCTV footage covering 35 days obtained by police showed such acts on almost every day except for a few.
"The child told the mother, 'Mom, my stomach hurts when I drink water,'" he wrote. "Even though the child did not want to eat food scraps left over by another child, a spoon was forced into the child's mouth, and the child was also made to drink water left by other children."
"Pediatricians know well that when a child drinks a large amount of plain water in a short time, the sodium concentration in the blood falls and water moves into brain cells, causing the brain to swell and convulsions to occur," he said. "These convulsions are a serious condition that can cause severe brain damage or, in the worst case, death."
"In this case, the legal principle of attempted murder, not simple child abuse, should be applied to the perpetrator," he said. "Pediatricians who have stood on the front lines protecting children's health feel unspeakable anger."
Child abuse cases have continued unabated. According to the 2025 annual child abuse report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, reports of child abuse totaled 63,166 last year, up 12,924 cases, or 25.7%, from a year earlier. Parents accounted for 85.3% of abusers, the vast majority. Abuse by substitute caregivers such as parents' cohabiting partners or school staff accounted for 1,510 cases, or 6.4%, while relatives accounted for 562 cases, or 2.4%.
