Couple forces children to hit family dog, threatens them with knife

A man and woman have each been sentenced to 18 months in jail, suspended for three years for multiple accounts of emotional and physical abuse against their children, court officials said Saturday.

The Chuncheon District Court recently found the married couple guilty of child abuse, placing them on probation and ordering them to take 40 hours of lectures on preventing similar crimes.

The 47-year-old husband was accused of forcing his daughter to strike the family dog when the animal bit him in June 2024. The girl was 9 years old at the time.

He also slapped the youngest child, a boy who was 5 then, and put the dog on the induction stove as the children watched.

The 38-year-old wife cursed at the children for keeping the heat on at some time between November 2023 and February 2024. She told them, "None of this would've happened if you didn't exist," as she threatened them with a knife.

Both defendants were accused of assault on their oldest child in January 2022, for telling the then-8-year-old boy off for stealing an ice cream. The male defendant pretended to slit the child's wrist with a knife, while the female defendant struck the victim with a backscratcher.

It was found that both defendants had been investigated for child abuse twice before the incidents for which they were tried.

The court said it took the previous investigations, repeated offenses, and the heinous nature of their crime into consideration when determining the sentence.