"Thickest Human Bone…" ER Shocked as Parents Shed Tears Watching CCTV of Taekwondo Instructor

1. "I Thought It Was a Mistake"… Captured on CCTV
This is the CCTV footage from the time of the incident that we secured. An instructor grabs a child running around the Taekwondo dojang as if snatching him. He lays the child down on a mat, holds his legs, and forces them wide apart. Then, he presses down with his weight from above. The child struggles and signals for him to stop. But the instructor does not stop. As a result, the child's thigh bone was broken. The femur is one of the thickest and strongest bones in the human body.

[Parent of the Victim: When the emergency room doctor saw this photo, they said this: 'The femur is the thickest bone in a human body, and children's bones usually bend rather than snap clean like this. Because immense force must have been applied, we suspect child abuse.']

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 decided to visit the Taekwondo dojang again. That was when the scene of the legs being forced apart in the video caught their eye.

[Parent of the Victim: At first, I thought it was a mistake. When we zoomed in and recorded it, we realized the video showed forced splits. I was shocked at that moment and said things like, 'They split his legs, they forced his legs apart'…]

Even two months later, the child has not been able to walk properly. At seven years old by international age, the child I met had a bright face, but continued to limp.

2. The Fleeing Child: 'It Happened 11 Times'
The instructor claims that he did not force the splits. He argues that the accident occurred while he was trying to catch the child's legs because the child was thrashing around during the training process. In the footage from the time, the child keeps running around inside the dojang to avoid the instructor. After running away several times, the child is caught by the instructor, leading to the scene where his legs are forced open and pressed down.

[Parent of the Victim: I asked him again later. I asked if they had done splits before. He said they were forced to do splits as a punishment. When I asked how many times, he said it happened about 11 times.]

This was why the child had been running around inside the dojang to avoid him.

[Parent of the Victim: He said he ran away because he was scared they would make him do the splits.]

However, after being discharged from the hospital and returning to school, the child reportedly heard peers say, '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 instructor on charges of child abuse.

3. Children Go There, But It Was Not an 'Academy'
This raises a question. Who regulates Taekwondo dojangs, which are frequented by many young children? Places where children flock after school to learn sports. Because of this, people commonly think of Taekwondo dojangs as private cram schools (hagwons). However, unlike general tutoring academies under the Private Teaching Institutes Act that are guided and supervised by the superintendent of education, Taekwondo dojangs are subject to the Act on the Installation and Utilization of Sports Facilities. They are managed by local governments, not offices of education. Even though they are spaces used by children, they fall under a completely different administrative system.

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

Of course, this does not mean that Taekwondo dojangs are entirely unregulated. Administrative dispositions under the Sports Facilities Act are possible. The problem, however, is how rigorously they are managed for children's safety.

[Cho Gi-hyun, Attorney Specialized in Child Abuse: In reality, city, county, and district offices do not provide the proper management and supervision that offices of education do. Childcare centers fall 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 handled by the sports division...]

Even two months later, the child still uses a wheelchair. Taekwondo dojangs are places where many children spend their time after school. They are also places where parents entrust their children with peace of mind. If so, are the standards for protecting children as sufficient as the standards for teaching them? This incident prompts a review of those standards.

(Reported by Jeong Jiyeon | Produced by Shin Hee-suk | Video by Kim Sang-yun | Video Editing by Jang Yu-jin | Graphics by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.