[Anchor]
You may remember the case of Choi Do-ha, a young boy who died two years ago due to abuse by a taekwondo gym director. SBS has learned that two instructors who simply watched the abuse take place have recently been referred back to the prosecution. Our reporting team exclusively obtained and reviewed some 300 CCTV video clips covering the two months leading up to the incident.
Reporter Lee Se-hyeon brings us the details.
[Reporter]
In July of the year before last, 3-year-old Choi Do-ha died after being left trapped upside down between taekwondo gym mats for 30 minutes.
It was the act of the 39-year-old director, surnamed Choi.
Last January, the Supreme Court finalized a 30-year prison sentence for child abuse murder and habitual abuse, and the director is currently serving time.
SBS has obtained CCTV footage from the two months prior to the incident, confirming previously unreleased circumstances of additional abuse and neglect by the director and his instructors.
From instructor A, who blankly watched as the director tied Choi's arms and legs with a rope and spun him around in the air multiple times even when the boy went limp as if fainting, to instructors B and C, who merely covered their faces and laughed loudly while the director swung his arm to strike the child's head and took a flying kick posture while the crying child looked on. All of these individuals were instructors legally mandated to report child abuse.
Among them, instructor A is currently on trial for child abuse in a separate case unrelated to the late Choi, as CCTV captured the instructor grabbing and lifting a crying child by the wrist.
The other two instructors were initially referred to the court as child protection cases rather than through criminal procedures on the grounds that they did not directly inflict abuse, but the court's judgment was different.
During a hearing held on the 10th, the Uijeongbu District Court stated that the case was not at a level that could be concluded with child protection measures, and referred them back to the prosecution.
In the case of instructor B, CCTV footage captured him violently shaking Choi, who was trapped inside the mats, just two days before the fatal incident. During the court hearing, instructor B introduced himself as a "taekwondo instructor." When the presiding judge asked, "Are you still teaching children taekwondo?", he answered, "Yes."
[Choi Min-young / Mother of the late Choi Do-ha: When the children were treated worse than animals, (the instructors) stood right next to them and laughed. If (the instructors) had just come and told me about it, my child wouldn't have had to die or get hurt.]
Two years after the incident, instructors B and C will face renewed judgment by the prosecution for turning a blind eye to the director's abuse. Meanwhile, the next trial for instructor A, who is facing child abuse charges himself, will be held tomorrow (the 18th).
(Video Editing: Shin Se-eun, Design: Lee Ga-jin)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.