A couple in their 20s gave their one-year-old a mixture of milk and water instead of milk (South Korea)

A couple in their twenties are on trial for feeding their 17-month-old child a mixture of milk and water instead of milk due to financial difficulties and forbidding him from receiving his 20th mandatory vaccination.
According to Yonhap News on the 9th, the Daejeon District Court held a trial on the 5th of this month against the couple, who were indicted in April this year on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act (child abandonment and neglect).
The couple who gave birth to a child in July 2021 raised the child in a motel in Daejeon for about eight months without filing a birth certificate, and did not allow the child to receive the 20th nationally designated mandatory vaccination to prevent infectious diseases.
According to the prosecution's indictment, the couple, who had been raising their child in a motel, moved to a villa (low-rise apartment complex) in Dong-gu, Daejeon in March 2022, but were struggling to make ends meet.
So until the end of the year, the child was given a mixture of equal parts milk and water instead of milk, which resulted in the child becoming malnourished.
After hearing the charges filed by the prosecutor, the court ruled that "the child's upbringing measures as the guardian of the child were inadequate.
"You can't do anything just because you gave birth to the child," he said, loudly scolding the couple.
Both of their custody cases were supposed to be resolved through probation, but they were handed over to criminal prosecution after the couple failed to attend their family court hearings.
The defendants' crimes were deemed not so minor that they could be resolved with a summary fine.
The case was referred to the public trial. The court stated, "The defendants escalated the situation, even though it could have been resolved with probation and child protection," and "They did not attend the child protection trial, and did not even attend the probation investigation."
"They didn't respond properly. If they don't comply with the procedures, the sentence will be even heavier. They don't seem to show much remorse either."
However, the court said, "The child protection trial is not about how the individuals involved will handle it, but about how the child's protection will be handled.
"Although it is a criminal trial, the procedures will be conducted in a manner similar to that of a family court. A pre-trial investigation will be conducted, and
"We will continue by having an interview during this time," he said. The child is currently being cared for in a child protection facility, and it was reported that a birth certificate was filed with the support of the city of Oda.