South Korea amends 'ghost babies' law to prevent abuse, but foreign children excluded
South Korea has begun to close a loophole in its birth management system after the discovery of two newborns stashed in a freezer highlighted the phenomenon of "ghost babies" - children whose births were recorded in a hospital, but who were not subsequently registered as an official citizen.
The case last month of a woman in her 30s accused by police of strangling her two infants in 2018 and 2019, then storing their bodies in her home freezer, sparked public outrage and prompted lawmakers across the aisle to back a revision to the Act on Registration of Family Relations, in a rare example of unity on Friday last week.
The amendment to the law means that from next year, hospitals will be required to report the births of all South Korean children to the government within 14 days.
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Existing rules place the onus on South Korean parents to register their child with the government within one month of birth. The regulation is enforced with a meagre fine of no more than 50,000 won (US$38.20).
"We welcome the new law as it would help prevent the abuse of babies whose births are not officially registered," Kim Min-jung, head of the Korean Unwed Mothers' Families Association, told This Week in Asia.
However, she said the law did not go far enough, as it would continue to apply only to citizens. Kim said she hoped authorities would strengthen the legislation in future to include babies born to all foreigners living in the country, even illegal immigrants.
Excluding foreign children meant another loophole still existed, exposing them to the risk of abuse, the Hankyoreh Daily newspaper reported.
Authorities have recorded at least 209 cases of "ghost babies" since an audit of children born in hospitals between 2015 and 2022 led to the discovery of the two dead infants in Suwon City, 30km south of Seoul.
Of the 6,000 infants studied in the audit, some 4,000 turned out to be foreign children.
Foreigners have no legal obligation to register births in South Korea.
The United Nations has repeatedly recommended that all children born in South Korea should be registered, regardless of their parents' nationality or immigration status.
Meanwhile, South Korean police on Tuesday said they were investigating 193 cases of "ghost babies", including another four dead infants.
Most parents claimed to have left their children at churches or in "baby boxes" outside volunteer-run facilities that take in infants born to unwed mothers. Police said they were seeking to verify the parents' statements.
In one case, police said they were investigating whether a woman in her twenties, in the eastern Seoul suburb of Namyangju, was involved in "child-trafficking" after she claimed she gave her baby to a couple facing infertility, in return for accepting hospital fees amounting to about 600,000 won (US$460) on average.
The mother gave birth in April 2015 and said she handed over her child to the couple, whom she met through an online community, without going through a formal adoption process.
"We will determine the identity of the couple who adopted the child and confirm whether the baby is still alive or dead," police said.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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