5-day-old newborn abandoned in front of the restaurant where he worked

◀ Anchor ▶

The night before, a woman was caught by the police following leaving her newborn baby, less than a week old, in front of a restaurant in sub-zero temperatures.

This mother was a foreign student, and she said she left it in front of the restaurant where she worked because she did not have the ability to raise her baby.

Reporter Jung Ji-hyung covered the story.

◀ Report ▶

In front of a restaurant in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, the evening before yesterday when the temperature dropped to minus 2 degrees Celsius.

A woman in a black padded jumper gets out of a taxi with something on her chest.

The woman carried a bag in one hand and went to the lighted restaurant, then came back empty-handed.

About eight minutes later, the owner of the restaurant came out and found a newborn baby wrapped in a blanket and crying.

[김병균/식당 주인]

“I heard a cat cry a couple of times. It was so strange that I went out now, and there was a baby and two bags by the front door…”

The owner of the restaurant hurried inside with a baby and a baby bag lying on the cold floor.

The woman arrested last night at her residence was a foreigner in her 20s who came to Korea earlier this year as an exchange student.

[경찰 관계자]

“It’s because I don’t have the ability to raise it. (Still) Wrap it up warmly with baby items. I would have hoped that the baby would be raised well. If I had tried to kill (the baby), I wouldn’t have done that.”

She left the baby in front of the restaurant where she worked part-time from 4 months ago until just before giving birth.

[김병균/식당 주인]

“It’s been until the 10th or so and it’s stopped. It’s been 5 days since I left my baby. They say they left it on the 5th day following giving birth.”

It is known that the woman has hidden the fact of pregnancy from her birth father as well as from those around her, and said that she only felt sick even when she was full-term.

However, at a meeting with the owner of the restaurant today, it was reported that he regretted leaving the baby behind and said he would raise it to the end.

The baby is in good health and is being taken care of at the hospital, but will soon be transferred to an infant care facility.

After investigating the specific motive for the crime, the police plan to apply for an arrest warrant for the woman on charges of infant abandonment.

This is MBC News Jeong Jeong-hyeong.

Video coverage: Seongmin Jin (Jeonju)

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