00:00 Intro
00:14 "Thought It Was a Mistake"... Captured on CCTV
01:38 Running Child: "I Suffered It 11 Times"
02:30 Children Go There, But It Wasn't an 'Academy'

A child has been injured at a Taekwondo gym yet again. A 7-year-old child's thighbone was fractured after being subjected to so-called 'forced splits.' The child's parents, who initially thought it was a mistake, say they were shocked upon carefully reviewing the CCTV footage.

1. "Thought It Was a Mistake"… Captured on CCTV
This is the CCTV footage from the time that we secured. The head instructor grabs a child running around the Taekwondo gym as if snatching them. He lays the child down on a mat, grabs their legs, and forces them apart. Then, he presses down with force from above. The child struggles and signals to stop. But he did not stop. As a result, the child's thighbone was fractured. The thighbone is one of the thickest and strongest bones in the human body.

[Victim's Parent: When the emergency room doctor saw this photo, they said this: A child's thighbone is the thickest bone among human bones, and a child's bone would bend, not snap cleanly like this. Because immense force must have been applied, they said child abuse is somewhat suspected.]

The child's parents looked back on the incident. Because the CCTV footage they saw immediately after the accident had a small screen and a short duration, they visited the Taekwondo gym again. That is when the scene of 'doing the splits' in the footage caught their eye.

[Victim's Parent: At first, I thought it was a mistake. When I zoomed in and took a video, that footage turned out to be a split-stretching video. I was a bit shocked at that moment and said things like, 'They did the splits, they did the splits...']

Even two months later, the child has not been able to walk properly. Aged 7 internationally, the face of the child I met was bright, but their legs continued to limp.

2. Running Child: "I Suffered It 11 Times"
The instructor claims that he did not force the splits. He asserts that the accident occurred while he was grabbing the child's legs as the child was struggling during the coaching process. Looking at the footage from back then, the child keeps running around inside the gym, avoiding the instructor. After running away several times, the child is caught by the instructor, followed by a scene where his legs are forced apart and pressed down.

[Victim's Parent: I asked again later. Have you split them in the past? Then he said he had stretched them as a penalty. I asked how many times, and he said he suffered it about 11 times.]

This was why the child ran around inside the gym trying to avoid him.

[Victim's Parent: They said they ran away because they were scared of doing the splits.]

However, after being discharged from the hospital and returning to school, the child reportedly heard things from friends like, "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 child abuse charges.

3. Children Go There, But It Wasn't an 'Academy'
However, a question arose here. Who is managing Taekwondo gyms, where many young children go? A space where children flock after school ends to learn sports. Because of this, people commonly think of Taekwondo gyms as academies. However, unlike regular cram schools and other institutions that receive guidance and supervision from the superintendents of education under the Private Teaching Institutes Act, Taekwondo gyms are subject to the Sports Facilities Act. They are managed by local governments, not offices of education. Even though it is a space used by children, it falls under a completely different administrative system.

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

Of course, this does not mean Taekwondo gyms are subject to no regulations. Administrative dispositions under the Sports Facilities Act are possible. The problem, however, is how closely managed they are for the safety of children.

[Cho Kihyun / Child Abuse Attorney: Practically speaking, city, county, and district offices do not conduct proper management and supervision 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 gyms, they are managed by the sports division within the city, county, and district offices...]

Two months later, the child still uses a wheelchair. Taekwondo gyms are places where many children spend their time after school. They are also places where parents entrust their children with peace of mind. Then, are the standards for protecting children sufficient enough compared to how they teach them? This incident makes us look back at those standards.

(Reported by Jeong Jiyeon | Produced by Shin Hee-suk | Video by Kim Sang-yun | Video Editing by Jang Yu-jin | Design by Lee Soo-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)