Hospital director and doctor jailed for murder after placing 36-week-old foetus inside freezer to die
On Wednesday (4 Mar), a hospital director and an attending doctor in South Korea were sentenced to prison for the death of a 36-week-old foetus.
The fetus’s mother was also found guilty as an accomplice to the murder and was given a suspended sentence.
Doctors placed delivered foetus in freezer
According to Chosun, the mother, surnamed Kwon, was 34 to 36 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to the baby via caesarean section at Mr Yoon’s hospital in June 2024 (both names transliterated from Korean).
Yoon and the attending physician, surnamed Shim (transliterated from Korean), then placed the foetus in a freezer to kill it.
In June 2025, Kwon, who is in her 20s, posted a video about the procedure on YouTube titled “Total surgery cost 9 million won, 120 hours of hell”, The JoongAng reported.
This sparked controversy and led South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare to order the police to investigate.
Source: Newsis
Mother claims not to know foetus would be born alive
According to The JoongAng, the mother claimed that “if she had known the foetus would be born alive, she would have gone to a facility for unwed mothers instead of a hospital”.
However, the court pointed out that Kwon visited several clinics to confirm the foetus’s heartbeat prior to the abortion.
Source: Newsis
“In these circumstances, it appears that Ms Kwon knew that the surgery would lead to the foetus’s death by signing a consent form entrusting the clinic with the disposal of the foetus’s body,” the court added.
Mother gets suspended sentence
Despite the verdict, the court noted that the legal framework surrounding abortion in South Korea had been unclear during the period.
The country’s previous abortion law was removed in 2019, while a new law protecting pregnant women facing social and economic difficulties only came into force in July 2024.
Source: The JoongAng
The court also considered the possibility that Kwon had discovered her pregnancy late due to an earlier misdiagnosis.
As a result, Kwon was sentenced to three years in prison and five years of probation, but her prison sentence was suspended for a year, Chosun reported.
Hospital director made money through abortions
According to Chosun, Yoon was found to have made KRW1.46 billion (S$1.2 million) by introducing 527 abortion patients to brokers from August 2022 to July 2024.
He was sentenced to six years in prison and a KRW1.5 million (S$1,300) fine.
Authorities also confiscated KRW1.15 billion (S$980,000) in alleged criminal proceeds.
Source: KBS
Meanwhile, the attending doctor Shim was sentenced to four years in prison.
Under South Korean law, a foetus is generally not considered a legal person unless it has fully emerged from the mother’s womb, The JoongAng reported.
Because of this distinction, applying the charge of murder can be complicated in such cases.
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Featured image adapted from The JoongAng, Newsis.
