'Incheon hamburger girl' habitually beaten by her mother

A four-year-old child, who fainted while brushing her teeth after eating a hamburger and died later, has turned out to be habitually beaten by her mother.

According to the Incheon Nambu Police Station on Friday, the 27-year-old mother confessed that she beat her daughter habitually. At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, the girl surnamed Joo fainted and died while brushing her teeth after eating a hamburger in a multiplex house in Incheon. The police requested an arrest warrant for the mother on Friday for breaking exemption laws on child abuse.

The police reported that the mother thought that her daughter was faking it when she fainted in the toilet. She grabbed Joo's hair and shook it until Joo's head hit the floor. Then she kicked Joo's head, stomach, and hips. As Joo's condition seemed critical, the mother called 119 and did CPR on Joo, but Joo did not make it until the ambulance arrived.

The police found that Joo's mother beat Joo eight times from July 14 to Aug. 2 for being disobedient and ignoring neighbors. She hit Joo's soles and legs with a 45-cm-long stick that she made with a newspaper and tapes and a steel clothes hanger that is used at laundries.

At first, the mother denied her crime when the hospital reported Joo's wounds to the police and the police investigated on her. She made a confession on Thursday when Joo's funeral was finished as the police kept questioning her.

인천=황금천기자 kchwang@donga.com