CCTV footage released from death of 5-year-old at taekwondo studio

[Anchor]

You may remember the tragic incident four months ago, where the head of a taekwondo center abused a 5-year-old child, leading to the child's death.

The police have restored the CCTV footage from that time, which captured over 140 instances of abuse.

The bereaved family has released this footage, stating that strong and proper punishment is necessary to eradicate child abuse.

Bae Ji-hyun reports.

[Report]

The head of the taekwondo studio puts a child into the hole of a rolled-up mat and strikes the child's bottom to push him deeper inside.

Despite the child's desperate cries for help, the abuse continued for 27 minutes.

As a result of the head's abuse, 5-year-old Choi Do-ha lost consciousness.

The head eventually moved Choi to a nearby ENT clinic, but by then, the child’s heart had already stopped due to hypoxic brain damage.

The head returned to the studio immediately and deleted the CCTV footage.

[Choi Min-young/Mother of deceased Choi Do-ha: "I asked him. What could be so serious that you had to delete the CCTV? He said, 'It's nothing. Oh, it's nothing.'"]

However, after the police recovered two months' worth of footage, it was confirmed that the head had abused Choi over 140 times.

Choi passed away after 11 days on life support.

During the last trial, the head's side denied responsibility, claiming that the child's death was due to the parents ending life support.

[Choi Min-young/Mother of deceased Choi Do-ha: "They said I killed him. Then why did you put him in the mat? And why did you make him need life support? Why did you not let me say goodbye to my child?"]

The bereaved family has released the CCTV footage, hoping for stricter punishments for child abuse to prevent such incidents from happening again.

[Choi Min-young/Mother of deceased Choi Do-ha: "Things need to change. Something has to change. But if children keep dying, it will only be in that moment. Oh poor child, is that it?"]

After the incident, Yangju City in Gyeonggi-do Province conducted a thorough investigation into the taekwondo studio to see if there were more instances of child abuse, and it was confirmed that there were additional victims.

The police are also considering applying charges of aiding and abetting child abuse to the instructors who were present at the time of the crime, in addition to the head.

KBS News, Bae Ji-hyun.