VIOLENCE: The teacher had depression and took a leave of absence, but returned to the school last year, South Korean media reported
AFP, SEOUL
A teacher stabbed an eight-year-old student to death at an elementary school in South Korea on Monday, 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 at the elementary school in the central city of Daejeon on Monday evening, the Yonhap news agency reported.
The girl was brought to hospital “in an unconscious state, but she later died,” the report read.
A bouquet of chrysanthemums with a message that reads: “Don’t be in pain and rest in peace,” is laid at an elementary school in Daejeon, South Korea, yesterday.
Photo:EPA-EFE
The teacher had stab wounds on her neck and arm, which officials determined might have been self-inflicted, the news agency reported.
“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 childcare before she was due to attend a private art class.
The teacher and the girl were found by police at around 6pm local time 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.
South Korea is generally a very safe country, with a murder rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to official statistics — below the global average of six homicide deaths per 100,000 people.
However, the country witnessed a string of high-profile violent crime incidents in 2023, including several stabbings.
In August of that year, a high-school teacher was reportedly attacked with a knife, also in Daejeon, about 140km south of the capital, Seoul.
