S Korea gripped by trial of toddler Jeong-in’s killer
The Guardian, TOKYO and SEOUL
A video clip shows a healthy, happy child smiling from ear to ear, her milk teeth gnawing at a pink fluffy toy. Within months, all of South Korea would know Jeong-in.
It has taken the death of a 16-month-old, allegedly at the hands of her adoptive parents, to jolt the South Korean government into what campaigners say is long-overdue action to protect the most vulnerable children, amid a dramatic rise in reported abuse cases over the past decade.
Jeong-in was pronounced dead at a Seoul hospital in October last year from severe abdominal injuries and internal bleeding that police suspect had been caused by repeated beatings by her parents, who had adopted her eight months earlier.