Korean celebrities raise awareness of fatal child abuse case featured on investigative TV show

• Baby Jeong-in died last year in South Korea after having apparently been abused by her adoptive parents, according to an investigative TV show
• BTS member Jimin, singer Uhm Jung-hwa and actor Shin Ae-ra are among celebrities to post about the case on social media

Tamar Herman in United States

South Korean celebrities helped raise awareness of injustices and apparent abuses that led to a child’s death last year after a television show investigated her treatment by adoptive parents.

On Saturday, South Korean broadcaster SBS aired an episode of its Unanswered Questions investigative show that focused on the death of the 16-month-old, drawing attention to the arrest of the adoptive parents and the fact that multiple reports to the police before her death were ignored.

The girl, known as Jeong-in or Jung-in, died at a hospital on October 13 as a result of traumatic injury to her pancreas. That same day her adoptive parents, known by their surnames Ahn and Jang, were arrested on child abuse charges.

The SBS investigation looked into the intensity of harm caused to the child, and revealed that the police hadn’t acted on several earlier reports of suspected child abuse by those around the family, including workers at Jeong-in’s day care. Following Jeong-in’s death, the police later reportedly discovered videos of the adoptive mother, Jang, filming herself abusing the baby.

The story gained widespread coverage in South Korea over the weekend, and petitions have been filed with the presidential Blue House to expand the investigation of the adoptive parents to include attempted murder. There have also been calls to investigate the police failure to look into the situation.

The couple and Jeong-in, along with an older child, had previously been featured on a South Korean television show that highlights families.

Hashtags relating to the case, including “Jeong-in-ah, [I’m/we’re] sorry”, trended in South Korea, and many celebrities posted in relation to the injustice.

Jimin, of boy band BTS, posted the hashtag on his account on Weverse, the fan engagement platform run by the band’s management, Big Hit Entertainment, to raise awareness of the case among that group’s international fan base, known as Army. Others, including singer Uhm Jung-hwa and actor Shin Ae-ra, who appeared in the recent popular K-drama Record of Youth, posted on Instagram to decry Jeong-in’s death.

The case is the latest of several to draw attention to authorities’ failure to protect those without power in South Korean society. The year 2020 witnessed numerous cases of low-income workers dying as a result of poor work and living conditions, including delivery workers affected by overwork arising from an uptick in deliveries as a result of Covid-19.