On April 4, SBS's investigative program Unanswered Questions aired an episode that highlighted questionable aspects of the verdict in the Iksan stepson abuse case.
The incident occurred around 7 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2025, at a hospital in Iksan, North Jeolla Province. A man carried his unconscious 14-year-old stepson into the emergency room; despite more than 50 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the boy died.
The victim, identified by the pseudonym Kim So-mang, had bruises and wounds across his body. Police, responding to a report of suspected abuse, arrested the child's guardian, a man in his 40s who had married the boy's mother eight years earlier.
The father told investigators he lost his temper while scolding the boy and that the death resulted from a momentary lapse of anger. Police, however, find that explanation implausible. The medical examiner reported approximately 1 liter of internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity, indicating massive hemorrhage.
The mesentery surrounding the liver and intestines had ruptured, causing intra-abdominal bleeding. The examiner ruled the cause of death hypovolemic shock. A severe stomp or kick to the abdomen can compress organs against the spine and cause them to rupture; the injuries are consistent with someone having stomped forcefully on So-mang's abdomen.
Forensic analysis of the guardian's phone uncovered calls and text messages indicating repeated abuse. The stepfather, identified as Mr. Oh, habitually hurled insults such as "Your cognitive ability is very low" and "Did you suddenly develop a disability?" He also spoke harshly to So-mang's brother, Mideum.
At the first trial, Oh was sentenced to 22 years in prison. The appeals court overturned that decision. In the second trial, judges concluded the primary perpetrator was the victim's biological brother; the stepfather was convicted only of failing to intervene and received a reduced sentence of 13 years.
