A teacher at an elementary school in Daejeon, South Korea killed a 7-year-old student because she was angry about not being allowed to teach after returning from leave.
According to the Daejeon Metropolitan City Office of Education, the teacher had taken leave for depression on December 9, 2024.
The Korean Times reported that the woman returned after 20 days instead of the expected six months, submitting a medical certificate allowing her to resume teaching.
Four days before the killing, she displayed violent behavior toward a colleague who asked about her wellbeing.
The Daejeon Seobu police station reports she confessed to the act of killing Kim Ha-neul, whom she did not know prior to the incident.
Police say the teacher had purchased a knife near the school during lunch break and lured the victim into the audiovisual room with a book before strangling and stabbing her.
The teacher said she targeted Kim randomly, planning to attack the last student leaving the classroom that day.
The incident occurred after school hours when Kim missed her 4.40pm private art class and her father learned of the attack through sounds he heard on his daughter’s phone app.
“From 4.50pm, I didn’t hear Ha-neul’s voice. I could only hear a gasping sound from an old lady as if she was panting after running, as well as sounds of someone opening and closing a drawer and unzipping something like a bag,“ he said.
The victim’s grandmother discovered the blood-covered teacher in the audiovisual room and alerted police, who then found Kim unconscious with multiple stab wounds alongside the injured teacher, who had self-inflicted wounds.
Kim later died from blood loss at a nearby hospital, while the teacher underwent surgery.
“Police told me not to look at my daughter’s body at the storage (inside the audiovisual room) because it would be difficult.
“My daughter became a star in the sky. There should never be another case like Ha-neul’s. I hope the government will come up with measures to prevent such incidents from happening again by pushing to revise the law or strengthen rules on teachers with a history of mental health problems,“ he added.
Police have requested an autopsy from the National Forensic Service to determine the exact cause of death and the teacher faces investigation for premeditated murder.
