Teachers Stuff Infant's Mouth With Tissue Used to Blow a Nose, Then Giggle ... Parents Weep as Daycare CCTV Is Released

[Financial News] Public outrage is growing after CCTV footage was released from an infant-only daycare in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, where a total of five childcare teachers have been indicted. The footage suggests that a one-year-old child was repeatedly abused hundreds of times over about 50 days.
Footage from inside the daycare, released by YTN on the 14th, shows teacher A holding B, a one-year-old boy, by the head and pressing a tissue used for nose-blowing over his mouth for about 10 seconds as other children of the same age watch. Another video captures A striking B dozens of times with a tumbler straw while two fellow teachers standing right beside them laugh instead of intervening.
The abuse shown in the footage included repeated assaults with bare hands and objects within reach, such as a mobile phone and toys. The indictment lists about 320 instances of alleged abuse of B over roughly 50 days, including 10 allegations that A and another teacher abused the child together.
The suspected abuse was not limited to B. The CCTV footage revealed a succession of inhumane acts by other teachers, including forcibly shoving a toy into another child's mouth, hitting the child on the head with a fork during a meal, punching the child in the back for not sitting down, and hitting the child's face with a diaper.
The children who were victimized are reportedly suffering serious psychological aftereffects. B's parents said in anguish, “Instead of rescuing our child, they stood by and laughed. It is no different from them all being in the same den of devils.” They added, “Our child is showing signs of psychological distress and cannot sit in one place and concentrate. The hospital has even recommended speech therapy, and our child is about to begin treatment.”
Earlier, the Gangneung Branch of the Chuncheon District Prosecution Office indicted five childcare teachers from the daycare on charges of child abuse on the 4th. Three, whose alleged offenses were considered more serious, were sent to trial in custody, while the other two were indicted without being detained. Given that the daycare specializes in infant care, most of the victimized children were one-year-old pupils. A total of 14 children, including B, were found to have been victimized.
The parents of the victimized children formed an emergency response committee and are taking strong action. The committee plans to hold a rally in front of Gangneung City Hall on the 16th, calling on local authorities to devise fundamental measures, and to hold another rally in front of the Gangneung Branch of the Chuncheon District Prosecution Office on the 24th, demanding severe punishment for the teachers involved.

[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter