A teacher stabbed an eight-year-old student to death at an elementary school in South Korea on Monday, Feb. 10, local media reported, citing authorities.
The teacher, a woman in her 40s, confessed to the crime after police officers found her and the young girl with stab wounds in the audiovisual room at the elementary school in the central city of Daejeon on Monday evening, the Yonhap news agency reported.
The girl, identified as Kim Ha-Neul, was brought to hospital ‘in an unconscious state, but she later died,’ the report read.
The teacher had stab wounds on her neck and arm, which officials determined may have been self-inflicted, according to the news agency.
‘Police found that the teacher had taken a leave of absence due to depression and returned to the school late last year,’ the report said.
The student was at the school for after-class child care before she was due to attend a private art class.
The teacher and the girl were found by police at around 6:00 pm (0900 GMT) after the child’s parents reported her missing from the art class.
The teacher underwent surgery for her wounds, and police said they would resume questioning her later, Yonhap reported.
The teacher reportedly said she stabbed Ha-Neul to death at school because she was angry for not being allowed to teach students after returning to work following her leave of absense due to depression, according to the police on Tuesday.
The teacher and her victim did not know each other beforehand, police added.
The suspect told police that she lured Kim into the room by offering her a book, then strangled and stabbed the girl, police said.
The teacher said she was angry for being prohibited from teaching. She said she was angry at the vice principal who made that decision.
Police said they are looking into that claim.
The suspect said she was looking for a student to target randomly, according to police. She had simply planned to attack the last student coming out of the classroom, and Kim was unfortunate to be the last child to leave that day.
The suspect also claimed she planned to k!ll herself afterward.
Police said they found that the suspect had bought a knife at a store near the school during the lunch break, hours before the attack.
Investigators said they will detain her for further questioning on suspicion of premeditated murder.
Kim was waiting for a shuttle bus to arrive after the school’s after-school program ended.
When she did not show up at 4:40 p.m. for her private art class, the academy called her family about 10 minutes later, which alarmed them and prompted a police search.
According to the police and the regional education authority, the teacher took a leave of absence from Dec. 9, 2024, over symptoms of depression.
She was expected to take six months off, but came back after about 20 days, expressing her intention to return to work early and submitting a medical certificate claiming she was ready to return to the classroom, according to an official at the Daejeon Metropolitan City Office of Education.
Only four days before the killing, the suspect showed violent behavior toward a colleague after simply being asked how she was doing.
According to Kim’s father, dozens of stab wounds were found all over the child’s body, including on her hands — indicating that she resisted.
