On April 4, SBS's investigative program Unanswered Questions aired a segment highlighting inconsistencies in the suspect stepfather's testimony in a child abuse case in Iksan.
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 CPR, the boy died.
Prosecutor Kim Myeong-ho, who led the investigation, concentrated on recorded phone calls. Records indicate the stepfather controlled the boy's meals and, after the child vomited from overeating, forced him to eat his own vomit.
CCTV captured the victim being transported to the hospital that day. Mideumi (the victim, a pseudonym) put Somang-i in their father's car and returned home with the youngest sibling. Prosecutor Kim said the stepfather claimed Somang-i had a tendency to steal. At the first trial, the stepfather testified that he left Somang-i in Mideumi's care (a pseudonym) and went out for roughly four hours. He also said that when he returned he struck the child on the back of the head, forced him to perform a so-called "Wonsan bombing," and hit the child's buttocks with a baseball bat.
At the second trial, the stepfather recanted his earlier claims that he struck and stomped the child's thighs, abdomen and side. He said he had lied to protect Mideumi. He asserted that he had disciplined Somang-i, stepped outside to cool off, and upon returning saw signs that Mideumi had assaulted Somang-i. However, the vehicle's dashcam recorded only about one minute of footage, which undermines his timeline.
He also said he changed his testimony in the second trial because the child's biological mother did not respond to calls.
