The Case of Jeong-In – An Abused Toddler

The Case of Jeong-In - An Abused Toddler

Jeong-In, a toddler who was secretly abused by her foster parents’ died last year on October 13  from severe damage to her pancreas. Her parents’ arrested for child abuse and popular celebrities like Jimin from BTS, singer Jung-hwa and actor Shin Ae-ra raises awareness of this incident to the media.

Just last year on October 13 in the hospital, Jeong-In, a 16 month old toddler died from traumatic injury to her pancreas from her foster parents’ who go by the surname of Ahn and Jang. They were arrested due to child abuse being the connection of her death.

Famous Korean entertainment celebrities like Jimin [main dancer and lead vocalist from BTS], singer Jung-hwa and actor Shin Ae-ra are the ones who have posted about this incident to help the media raise awareness of this and to draw the attention of ‘authorities failure to protect those without power in South Korean Society.’

Jeong-In’s case at first was aired on SBS in one of their episodes for its Unanswered Questions analytical show, which led to the attention and arrest of Jeong-In’s  adoptive parents’. However, it also caused the ignorance of her death and the incompetence of the police force on the case beforehand, which was later changed. 

How did Jeong-In’s case come to a conclusion? The simple answer is that her foster mother notoriously exposed herself. Following Jeong-In’s death, the police found filmed videos of the toddler’s mother’s abuse towards her. The story of Jeong-In in this case was finally recognized and a petition was filed towards the presidential Blue House to expand the investigation and to include attempted murder for the case towards her adoptive parents.’ 

Jeong-In, a child who was always cheerful and bouncing with energy is no longer here. With her death causing uproar and the awareness of child abuse, which has been a long term problem in society, has finally been recognized and substantial action will be taken, if not, this will result in an empty promise for protecting young adoptees being adopted in the future. Jeong-In’s death is remembered through a trend that tags her case #Sorry Jeong-In for all of the blind eyes who have turned and ignored her case and the apology of doing nothing for Jeong-In.