"They Broke a 7-Year-Old's Bone": The Reality of Taekwondo Dojangs Falling Through the Cracks [News File]

Another child has been injured at a Taekwondo dojang. After being subjected to so-called "leg splitting," a 7-year-old child's femur was fractured. The child's parents, who initially thought it was just an accident, were shocked after closely reviewing the CCTV footage. This is the CCTV footage from that time secured by the reporting team. The master grabs a child running around the Taekwondo dojang as if snatching him. He lays the child down on the mat, grabs his legs, and forces them apart. Then, he presses down with force from above. The child struggles and signals for him to stop. However, he did not stop. As a result, the child's femur was fractured. The femur is the thickest and strongest bone in the human body.
[Parent of the Victim Child: When the emergency room doctor saw this picture, they said that a child's femur is the thickest bone in a human body, but a child's bone bends rather than snapping cleanly like this. Because immense force must have been applied, they said child abuse is somewhat suspected.]

The child's parents looked back at the accident. Because the CCTV footage they saw right after the accident had a small screen and a short duration, they visited the Taekwondo dojang again. That is when the "leg splitting scene" in the footage caught their eye.

[Parent of the Victim Child: At first, I thought it was a mistake. When we zoomed in and recorded it, that video showed leg splitting. I was a bit shocked at that time and said something like, "They split his legs, they split his legs"...]

Even two months later, the child was still unable to walk properly. At 7 years old by international age, the face of the child I met was bright, but his legs kept limping.
The master claims that he did not force the leg splitting. He argues that the accident occurred while he was grabbing the child's legs because the child was thrashing about during the coaching process. Looking at the footage from that time, the child continuously runs around the dojang to avoid the master. After running away several times, he is caught by the master, followed by the scene of spreading his legs and pressing down.

[Parent of the Victim Child: I asked him again later. If he had split them in the past. He said he had them split as a punishment. When I asked how many times, he said it happened about 11 times.]

This was why the child ran around the dojang avoiding him.

[Parent of the Victim Child: He said he ran away because he was scared they would do the leg splitting.]

However, after being discharged from the hospital and returning to school, the child was reportedly told by friends, "Your leg broke because you did something wrong." Eventually, the parents filed a complaint with the police, and the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency is currently investigating the Taekwondo master on charges of child abuse. However, this raises one question: Who is managing Taekwondo dojangs, which are frequented by many young children? A space where children flock after school to learn sports. Because of this, people commonly think of Taekwondo dojangs as private academies. However, unlike general cram schools and other private academies that are guided and supervised by the superintendent of education under the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extra-lessons, Taekwondo dojangs are subject to the Sports Facilities Act. They are managed by local governments rather than offices of education. Even though they are spaces utilized by children, they fall under a completely different administrative system.

[Cho Kihyun / Attorney Specialized in Child Abuse: The biggest problem is that when child abuse occurs, general private academies can face administrative dispositions from the office of education such as the revocation of academy registration, closure, or suspension of operations, but for Taekwondo dojangs, there is no direct legal basis to forcibly close or suspend operations based solely on the child abuse act itself. There is none.]

Of course, this does not mean that Taekwondo dojangs are free from any regulation. Administrative dispositions under the Sports Facilities Act are possible. However, the problem is how closely managed they are for the safety of children.

[Cho Kihyun / Attorney Specialized in Child Abuse: Practically speaking, city, county, and district offices do not manage and supervise them properly like offices of education do. Daycare centers are under the jurisdiction of child-related departments within city, county, and district offices. But when city, county, and district offices manage Taekwondo dojangs, they are managed by the sports division within the city, county, and district offices...]

Even two months later, the child still rides in a wheelchair. A Taekwondo dojang is a place where many children spend their after-school hours. It is also a place where parents entrust their children with peace of mind. Then, are the standards for protecting children sufficient, just as much as the standards for teaching them? This incident makes us look back at those standards.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.