Teacher stabs eight-year-old girl to death in South Korea.
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News1 A man stood with his arms crossed in front of the school gate. Bouquets of flowers were thrown to the ground next to him.News1
Residents laid flowers at the school gate in tribute to the 8-year-old student
A teacher stabbed an eight-year-old girl to death at an elementary school in South Korea in an incident that has shocked the nation.
The teacher, in his 40s, confessed to stabbing the student in the central city of Daejeon, police said.
The girl was found with stab wounds on the second floor of a school building at 6:00 p.m. local time (09:00 GMT) on Monday and was pronounced dead at a hospital. The teacher was found next to her with stab wounds that police believe may have been self-inflicted. South Korean President Choi Sang-mok on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the case and urged authorities to "implement necessary measures to ensure that such incidents do not occur again." 01cf90c0-e82c-11ef-a319-fb4e7360c4ec.png.webp
Residents laid flowers and a rag doll at the gate of the school, which was closed on Tuesday.
At a police briefing on Tuesday, Yook Jong-myung, chief of the West Dajeon Police Station, said the teacher was recovering in hospital, adding that he had a neck wound that had been stitched up.
The Daejeon Education Office previously said the teacher had applied for a six-month leave of absence, citing depression, on Dec. 9, but returned to school only 20 days later after a doctor deemed him fit to work.
While on leave, he had suicidal thoughts, Yook said, citing testimony the teacher gave to police. Days before the attack, the teacher had engaged in violent behavior, including punching another teacher, the education office said.
Two education office officials went to the school on Monday, the morning of the attack, to investigate the fight.
Daejeon City, South Korea
After the attack on the colleague, the education office recommended that the teacher be placed on leave and physically separated from the other teacher.
She was forced to sit next to the assistant principal's desk so she could be closely monitored.
She had not taught any classes since the December break and had not had any contact with the eight-year-old student, the official said. According to the teacher's testimony to police, he bought a gun the day of the attack and brought it to school — adding that he planned to kill her and a child.
The testimony goes on to say that the teacher "didn't care whose child it was" and had intended for the last one to leave — he managed to "lure the child into the media room" before attacking.
The student was reported missing Monday night after the bus driver informed the school that she had not arrived to pick her up that day.
South Korea is a generally safe country with strict gun control laws. But in recent years, the country has faced several high-profile crimes, including knife attacks. "It pains me to see incidents like this, because a school should be our safest space," said Acting President Choi. "I express my deepest condolences to the victim's family, who are deeply shocked and in grief."
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