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Foreigner Rescues Kids From Abusive Daycare in Itaewon

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Foreigner Rescues Kids From Abusive Daycare in Itaewon
Jan. 29 2008 - 06:48 pm View comments (27)

	0		Foreigner, Rescues, Kids, From, Abusive, Daycare, Itaewon
			Foreigner, Rescues, Kids, From, Abusive, Daycare, Itaewon

Oh My News has discovered a daycare center in Itaewon that uses some highly questionable punishments -- locking kids outside in the cold, naked. Oh My News was alerted by a foreigner who saw the abuse and took photos, so good on you for that, "K". This is currently one of the most-viewed stories on Naver. The major networks are going to air stories on it tonight. Further Update: I don't have time to work on them right now, but this link has the video of SBS' report and this link is the Chosun Ilbo's report of the situation so far with some netizen reaction. Update: As commenter Race Traitor notes, Oh My News has reported that after their original article ran, the school called their office and admitted guilt. I'm appending their update to this post.

There is shock over the punishment a daycare center in Seoul doled out to one child -- forced to disrobe and be locked outside. As a result of photos sent to Oh My News and the resulting investigation, it has been confirmed that the "ㅂ daycare center" in Itaewon made the child, who appears to be about five years old, remove his clothes before putting him outside and shutting the door, leaving him there. It is particularly shocking that the daycare center in question, run for low-income families by the local Yongsan-gu government, left the child alone outside on the second floor fire escape where there was a danger of him falling. Oh My News separately received two photos, which show a small boy standing on the second floor fire escape almost naked, huddling in the extreme cold. According to data from weather reports, on the 25th, the day of the naked punishments, the temperature in Seoul ranged from -1.8℃ to -9.6℃. In an interview with Oh My News on the 28th, K, a foreigner who witnessed the punishments and took the photos, testified that from December 29th to January 25th she saw the punishment carried out twice. She said, "at about 10 in the morning on December 28th someone opened the door and put a completely naked little boy onto the veranda. The boy did not cry but he kept screaming and screaming, as if terribly frightened." "Then on the 25th the same thing happened to a little girl. Her pants were around her ankles." According to her testimony, the children were left outside for about 10 to 15 minutes. She said, "I heard the child's cries and took the pictures." OhMyNews went directly to the daycare to confirm these facts, finding that K's photographs are, in fact, of the daycare's second floor fire escape. In the three-story building there is a retirement home on the first floor, with the daycare occupying the top two floors. But the daycare center fully denies the allegations. The Yongsan-gu Office, which regulates the center, announced, "the daycare center has operated since 1995. It was established to serve low-income families." The center is currently serving 44 children from low-income families. Mr. Park, the owner, angrily said, "the 25th was our sports day, so nothing like that happened. This is an untrue rumor which should not have been spoken. Who says we used naked punishments? Somebody is speaking nonsense." Another employee at the daycare denied the allegations. "How could such a punishment have been used on such a terribly cold day? This isn't the 19th century, I would feel sick just to hear of such a thing." "I could sue you for slander," the employee said. After reproaching the reporter, the employee raged, "old people have no work to do, don't you know we're running a day care? Doesn't Oh My News have anything better to do?" A source at the Yongsan-gu Office said, "there have been no complaints about that center since its appointment by the government. Action can be taken after an investigation but there must be proof of the allegations." "For criminal punishment there must be either a complaint from parents or a third-party accusation. The ward office will typically issue a warning but if there are arrests then it can be shut down. In our jurisdiction there have been times when a child was hit and the teacher fired, but there has never been a case of an establishment being closed due to child abuse."

This is OMN's update. It sounds to me as though the owner has bullied the most junior staff member into taking the responsibility. If so I hope she is getting paid well for torpedoing her career to cover her boss' ass.

The daycare center at the center of allegations of "naked punishments in cold winter" has belatedly confessed.

Until now the center had denied the allegations, calling them "nonsense", but on the 29th they called Oh My News and said, "it happened in the course of corporal punishment. But it was wrong, there is nothing we can say."

A childcare worker at the school who applied the punishment also said, "I did it rashly and quickly. It is my fault and I feel very responsible for it."

L, the teacher, has been working at the daycare center for the past year. In a telephone interview with Oh My News L said, "it was something I did because I thought that the children must be brought up quickly and I am clearly at fault. I did something that a teacher in a daycare center should never do."

"The child turns six this year but hit and hurt a friend, and I didn't consider that ok. The child made me angry and in an instant I just got so angry and shut him outside on the fire escape."

"Normally she is a very good child, but she made me so frustrated and I just did it so quickly. I am so sorry."

"I didn't make her take her clothes off, she did that herself. How could I have put a little girl out into the cold in just her underpants? I didn't do it for very long."

L added, "the responsibility is mine and I will put in my resignation. Though I cannot work with kids again I hope that the school will not be closed."

Furthermore the owner of the school, a Mr. Park, and two others visited OhMyNews' office and admitted that the naked punishments had occurred.

They said, "even though it's difficult to look after kids it was unacceptable, and it seems the emotions of the teacher in charge erupted out of control. I have a large responsibility since I did not properly manage the teacher. Because of this clear mistake, I have accepted the offer of resignation."
A city official in charge of childhood education saw Oh My News' report and called, saying, "we will investigate and hand down a severe punishment." The Yongsan-gu Office announced, "when the investigation finishes every potential action will be enforced."

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by AgentX
on 01/29/2008 07:06 pm

"Who says we used naked punishments? Somebody is speaking nonsense.”"
Dude, there's a photo of a naked kid outside your door. You can't lie or obfuscate your way out this one.
Even Karl Rove can't spin this.
"Doesn’t Oh My News have anything better to do?”"
They're a newspaper/media organization- this is their job.
Even Roger Ailes can't make this look any better.

by RACETRAITOR
on 01/29/2008 07:13 pm

After this article was run, the daycare people spoke to the reporter again and confessed their guilt. However, the parents of the little girl announced that they don't want to take any action based on this punishment.

Thank you for your speedy translation.

by Mithridates
on 01/29/2008 07:20 pm

Damn, you're fast! I just noticed this article now and there's already a translation.

Yeah, it's interesting to see the difference in their attitude as soon as a picture was produced.

by Mithridates
on 01/29/2008 07:23 pm

Oh, and here's the other picture from below to show just how high up it is (for a kid).

I can't believe they thought they would get away with punishing a kid that way.

by Brian
on 01/29/2008 07:27 pm

"However, the parents of the little girl announced that they don’t want to take any action based on this punishment."

That'd be really remarkable. Like I say with tons of news stories here, I hope this becomes a catalyst for change regarding how kids are treated and how the police do their jobs (or don't do their jobs, in this case), but I think I'm setting myself up for disappointment. It'll be interesting to see what unfolds.

by AgentX
on 01/29/2008 09:03 pm

“Normally he is a very good child, but he made me so frustrated and I just did it so quickly. I am so sorry.”

“I didn’t make him take his clothes off, he did that himself. And how could I have put a little girl out into the cold in just her underpants? I didn’t do it for very long.”

I'm not buying this "confession" either. It's almost 5 below outside. No kid in their right mind is gonna take their clothes off. And neither does it explain the repeat occurrences.

I hope the Yongsan-du office throws the entire book at this crooked organization.

by William G
on 01/29/2008 10:55 pm

Now I'm not saying that the place requires vigilante justice... I just wouldn't oppose it if an outraged mob chucked some bricks through some windows.

by ZenKimchi » This is Disgusting
on 01/29/2008 11:13 pm

[...] Korea Beat is all up on the story translations. [...]

by taemin
on 01/29/2008 11:47 pm

"Park Ahmugae"? C'mon...

by Korea Beat
on 01/30/2008 12:02 am

Ah, I'd never seen 아무개. I thought he was one of those people with a long name. Corrected.

by rocketfuel
on 01/30/2008 12:22 am

sue'em.

by bulgasari
on 01/30/2008 02:34 am

"I hope the Yongsan-gu office throws the entire book at this crooked organization."

Yongsan-gu operates the daycare center. They won't do a thing, and never have. Read the last paragraph of the original article again.

A former co-worker used to work at an orphanage west of Yonsei University. She was a caregiver for a group of girls there, and found out that another caregiver had beaten a 9 year-old in her charge so badly that she was covered in bruises. She photographed the bruises and made a complaint to her superiors. When city hall (which was responsible for the orphanage) found out, they called the orphanage's management and told them how to get out of it, because it was city hall that was ultimately responsible. This would have been around 1999 or 2000, and I have no idea if things have changed since then.

"I hope this becomes a catalyst for change regarding how kids are treated and how the police do their jobs"

The rape and murder of an 11 year-old girl (also in Yongsan-gu) two years ago was the catalyst for the recent 'sex-offenders must wear bracelets' law. Though it led to pointless posturing like declaring February 22, the day of her funeral "Child Sex Crimes Awareness Day", it also lead to the questioning of how the police investigate such cases, and even a class action suit against the government by parents of sex-crime victims.

On the other hand, there wasn't anywhere near as much outrage when a similar murder took place in Jeju last year. One hopes that institutional changes have been put in place even though the media is no longer paying as much attention.

by AgentX
on 01/30/2008 11:38 am

There's evidence, national newspaper involvement and a series of confessions. There's no way the city hall there is not going to get involved to clean that place up.

by Gillian57
on 01/30/2008 01:08 pm

This is truly disgusting, but not surprising. The corporal punishment I witnessed during my one year in middle school hell convinced me that this society has no clue how to deal with Little People...... Personally, I have a neighbor woman who screams at beats her 3-year-old with a stick from the moment that poor child wakes up in the morning until he goes to bed at night. I live 3 apartments down from her and I can hear her over my television set! Unbelievable.

by hitest
on 01/30/2008 01:51 pm

The parents are low income, and probably have no other recourse for daycare if this daycare is shut down, which may account for the reluctance of the parents to report and prosecute these types of abuses.

I smell a scape goat in this incident as well. How could this have happened (twice) without any other more senior worker knowing or noticing? Having the responsability means taking the responsability. These things should trickle up, not down. I can only imgine what goes on unsaid inside the day care.

This incident puts the entire daycare under scrutiny. There should be closed circuit cameras, video taping and regular, random inspections with interviews of the children. I would also demand that children's services take a good look into the welfare of this daycare worker's own family, since if she is capable of abusing someone else's children, her own children are also at risk.

The children who were tortured, should have immediate and ongoing access to councilling. I am sure they have been traumatized.

I hope we can be posted on follow-ups on this. Let's see some of those strong Korean family/community/country ties put into action and keep track of how Korean's treat their own shall we ?

by Global Voices Online » South Korea: Abusive Daycare
on 01/31/2008 12:36 pm

[...] Beats translated a citizen report from ohmynews about an abusive daycare center. Matt has an update of the story. Share [...]

by Koreans React to “Naked Punishment” Daycare Scandal : Korea Beat
on 01/31/2008 09:21 pm

[...] Foreigner Rescues Kids From Abusive Daycare in Itaewon [...]

by Tiffany
on 02/01/2008 12:33 am

South Korea has a big problem with child abuse in education settings, and every foreign teacher there can attest to it. It's (dare I say) culturally acceptable, so I think that's why there is very little done to change it. So glad I left that country!

by Race Traitor's Dad
on 02/01/2008 02:19 pm

Way to go, son!

Nice apology! But even if the child did take off his/her clothes, it was still the childcare worker who was responsible for leaving the poor child out there.

by Daycare-Bustin’ Foreigner Interviewed : Korea Beat
on 02/01/2008 06:21 pm

[...] Foreigner Rescues Kids From Abusive Daycare in Itaewon [...]

by ZenKimchi » “I hope the media improves its protrayal of foreigners”
on 02/02/2008 11:25 am

[...] New Zealander who took the pictures in the daycare naked punishment scandal is interviewed by Oh My News. Korea Beat has the translation, and it’s a good interview. [...]

by mike
on 02/08/2008 03:22 am

Wow, this is horrible. Leave it to government to come up with a childcare like this. I hope the Korean shame overwhelms these losers for doing somthing so evil.

Karl Rove? Puhlease, at least he wasn't having "relations" with an intern. Love it how the liberals love to point a finger anyone while they have 4 pointing right back at them.

by Korea Beat
on 02/08/2008 08:35 am

Uh, who's pointing fingers at liberals or conservatives here? It was a joke.

by Weekly Blog Roundup « Your Daily Shot of Soju
on 02/08/2008 01:30 pm

[...] Foreign teacher saves child from Korean teacher! Stop the presses. Corporal punishment is nothing new to Korea, but I think everybody agrees this is taking it too far. My co-teacher and I agreed that simply making the student stand in the hallway would be sufficient as it’s cold as hell there too. [...]

by rtj
on 02/20/2008 04:19 pm

i don't know much about korea and their culture. the little i know are based on what i've seen in their tv series and movies. and i noticed that teachers hitting their students seem to be a norm. as series and movies usually mirror reality, it is a stark manifestation of how twisted discipline seem to be in Korea. i cannot even begin to verbalize the disbelief i feel at the thought of a teacher carrying out a punishment as severe as leaving a child naked out in the cold. it's just insane!

by Cover it Up! It’s Just a Kid! Outrage of the Week. » The Hub of Sparkle!
on 11/07/2008 05:55 pm

[...] restaurant fall silent. We’ve heard before, in the news and on youtube clips (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), about the Korean Police’s sometimes lackadaisical approach to protecting the vulnerable. [...]

by
on 03/23/2009 03:53 pm

I was thrown out naked onto an alleyway when I was 4 by my mother as punishment for not eating dinner. I slept under a car that night. Pansies.

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Foreigner Rescues Kids From Abusive Daycare in Itaewon

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