Two years ago, Ms. Kim, a 29-year-old with Grade 2 severe intellectual disability, landed a job at a laundry company in Incheon. Kim's social age is equivalent to that of a 7-year-old. She worked for a little over three hours from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. folding dried towels at the facility. For Kim, it was her very first step into society. It was a job recommended by the Incheon branch of the Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities to her father, who had been raising her as a single parent. Hearing that it was certified as a "standard workplace for the disabled," the father trusted the company and left his daughter in their care.

However, in the spring of this year, Kim's father received devastating news. In March, when he tried to buy her spring clothes, he noticed that his normally slender daughter's abdomen was unusually swollen. It was only after taking her to the hospital that he discovered she was pregnant. She was already near full term, raising strong suspicions of sexual assault, but it was difficult to even determine the exact gestational age. Kim gave birth via Cesarean section in late April.

 
Holding his daughter's hand, the father combed the neighborhood to find the perpetrator. He searched around following his daughter's routine, which usually consisted only of moving between home, church, and work. During this process, Kim once identified the wrong person as the offender, and the investigation faced confusion when a DNA mismatch resulted. The father questioned his daughter further, and the story that finally came out of her mouth was shocking. This was because it was revealed that the perpetrator was Mr. Lee, an executive in his 60s at the laundry company, and that Lee had even threatened the intellectually disabled daughter with statements like, "If you tell your family, I won't leave you alone," and "I'll go to prison." Right after test results showed that the DNA of Kim's baby matched Lee's, Lee called the victim's father and said, "I admit to everything."
 
That was not the only appalling detail. Circumstances also emerged indicating that Lee, in his 60s, tried to arrange an abortion after learning of Kim's pregnancy. It was on a day in December of last year when the father even filed a missing persons report after suddenly losing contact with his daughter. On that day, offender Lee took Kim to an obstetrics and gynecology clinic, pretended to be her uncle, and attempted to get an abortion for her. However, the clinic turned them away, stating that they needed to verify consent from Kim's legal guardian. On the same day, Lee swapped Kim's mobile phone for a used phone previously used by a member of his own family. All call records and chat histories up to that point were deleted.

His inhuman behavior did not stop there. While the victim Kim was staying at a postpartum care center after giving birth, Lee sent her photographs of his own genitals and even requested that she send photos of her private area while she was experiencing postpartum bleeding. These pieces of evidence, revealed through digital forensic examination of the victim's phone, were all submitted to the police. A little over a month and a half after Kim gave birth to the child, offender Lee picked Kim up in his car once again, took her to an acquaintance's house, and sexually assaulted her. The footage of Lee luring Kim and getting her into the vehicle was captured intact on CCTV. He committed the crime again despite knowing that Kim had just given birth.


It is reported that while perpetrator Lee admits to having sexual relations, he denies committing a crime, claiming that the sexual intercourse was consensual. The Women and Juvenile Crime Investigation Unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency has booked Lee on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes and is considering applying for an arrest warrant. Attorney Kim Hwan-seop, representing the victim, pointed out, "Prompt compulsory investigation, such as executing a preliminary arrest warrant for the perpetrator who denies the charges, is necessary." He emphasized that anyone who has spent even a brief time sharing daily life with the victim would inevitably see how absurd the perpetrator's claim is. Above all, criticism is gaining weight that securing additional evidence, analyzing seized items, and taking the suspect into custody are not being carried out swiftly, despite the perpetrator having destroyed evidence over a long period and currently losing contact even with his own family.

The victim, Kim, whose social age is 7. During an examination at the Sunflower Center, she clumsily yet consistently opened up about her feelings at the time of the incident. The statement record consistently reveals that she did not accept the offender's actions out of her own will, but rather because she could neither understand nor escape the situation.


This facility where Kim worked is a standard workplace for persons with disabilities that employs around 10 disabled workers. It was certified in 2024 by the Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Once designated as a standard workplace, companies receive establishment funding and various tax benefits. Specifically, corporate tax and income tax are reduced by 100% for the first three years, and by 50% for the following two years. The government also promises sales channels, including goods transactions. The CEO of this company is the son of the perpetrator, who served as managing director. The CEO stated that he was completely unaware of the matter and would faithfully cooperate with police and labor agency investigations. The Incheon Jungbu District Employment and Labor Office is conducting a special labor inspection on the workplace, but no administrative fines have been imposed yet. The Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities, which oversees and supervises standard workplaces for the disabled, stated that it had "established measures to prevent the recurrence of human rights violations and conducted preventive education for all employees."

There were many who said they felt deep moral responsibility. The company CEO, and according to hearsay, even the perpetrator himself, said they would take responsibility. However, from the occurrence of the incident until now, no one has taken actual responsibility. To care for the 90-day-old newborn, the victim's father even quit his job earlier this month. "In 20 years, I will be 80 years old. I cannot guarantee that I will still be alive by then. Honestly, I am deeply worried about raising the child," said the victim's father.


The baby, who had just been unwrapped from her swaddle and was wiggling her fingers and toes, was endlessly precious, but throughout the coverage, my heart remained heavy. This was because the road ahead, which the innocent child and the victim's family must bear, appeared far too long and heavy. In the end, I was unable to directly hear the side of the offender, Lee, a man in his 60s who himself has a daughter and a granddaughter.