A screen capture image of a video documenting a woman's experience undergoing an abortion. A woman shows her enlarged belly with a subtitle saying that she thoughta hormonal imbalance and polycystic ovary syndrome were the cause of her physical change.SCREEN CAPTURE
A woman who sparked nationwide controversy after posting a YouTube video about terminating her pregnancy at 36 weeks was acquitted of murder on appeal, while the director of the hospital and surgeon convicted of killing the live-born fetus after a c-section received reduced prison sentences.
The Seoul High Court sentenced hospital director Yoon to four years in prison, a 1.5 million won ($1,020) fine and forfeiture of 9 million won after finding him guilty of murder and other charges on Thursday.
The surgeon, identified only by his surname Shim, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. The court also barred both Yoon and Shim from working at child-related institutions for five years.
In the first trial, Yoon was sentenced to six years in prison, and Shim was sentenced to four years.
The woman, identified only by her surname Kwon, had been given a three-year prison sentence with a five-year suspension in the first trial, but was acquitted on appeal.
Two brokers who were indicted for referring abortion patients to Yoon in exchange for referral fees received suspended prison terms.
The appeals court, like the lower court, found Yoon and Shim guilty of murder. It ruled that they had performed a c-section on Kwon, who was 34 to 36 weeks pregnant in June 2024, and then delivered the fetus and killed it by covering it with a surgical drape and putting it in a freezer.
However, the appeals court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Kwon knew the fetus would be killed by the medical staffs after being born alive.
The Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern SeoulJOINT PRESS CORP
The lower court found that Kwon had acted with conditional intent to commit murder, but the appeals court disagreed.
"Kwon asked the brokers to 'ask [the medical staff] whether the baby had been stillborn,' and the brokers replied that it had," the court said. "From Kwon’s perspective, there is no evidence that she knew this statement was made by a broker lacking medical knowledge without even consulting the medical staff.”
The court also rejected the argument that Kwon's failure to actively confirm whether the fetus had been born alive during the procedure showed she had accepted the killing.
"[She didn’t actively confirm] because she had already been told through the brokers that the baby would be stillborn," the court said.
The court further ruled that Kwon's signing of a consent form authorizing the hospital to handle the fetus after the procedure could not be interpreted as consenting to its killing.
The judges also pointed to Kwon's conduct after the surgery.
"Kwon produced and uploaded a YouTube video documenting her recovery after the surgery," the court said. "It is difficult to believe that she would have posted such a video on a public platform had she known that the fetus would be delivered alive and then intentionally killed."
Members of reproductive rights civic groups embrace outside the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on April 11, 2019, after the court ruled that provisions of the criminal law punishing abortion were unconstituional.NEWS1
The appeals court strongly condemned the actions of Yoon and Shim.
"It is impossible to imagine the terror the victim must have experienced while struggling to stay alive," the court said. "Murder takes a human life — an absolute value — and can never be justified for any reason."
The court said, however, that it had taken Kwon's circumstances into account when determining her sentence.
"A pregnant woman's right to decide whether to continue her pregnancy is a constitutionally protected right to self-determination," the court said. "The fact that the offense stemmed from Kwon's decision to terminate the pregnancy was considered a mitigating factor in sentencing.”
The court also said it had taken into account that the defendants admitted to the crime in court and showed remorse.
A newborn baby is seen at a hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on Nov. 26, 2025, in this photo unrelated to the article.YONHAP
The case began after Kwon uploaded a YouTube video in June 2024 titled "Total Surgery Cost: 9 Million Won, 120 Hours of Hell," which sparked allegations that a murder might have been committed.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare filed a complaint with the police the following month, which started an investigation. The investigation found that Yoon performed abortions to financially support their hospital as the hospital was facing financial difficulties.
The police investigation also found that Yoon and Shim had performed a c-section on Kwon, who was 34 to 36 weeks pregnant, delivered the fetus and then killed it by placing it in a freezer.
The pair was indicted on murder charges.
Yoon was also charged with falsifying Kwon's medical records to make it appear that the baby had been stillborn. He allegedly recorded that she had suffered “bleeding and abdominal pain” and issued a false medical certificate.
Prosecutors had initially sought a 10-year prison sentence for Yoon, a 5 million won fine and forfeiture of 1.15 billion won in alleged criminal proceeds. They also sought six-year prison terms for both Kwon and Shim.
The lower court also said in March that a special law protecting women facing crisis pregnancies — defined as women experiencing financial, psychological or physical hardship related to childbirth or child-rearing — only came into force in July 2024. Kwon therefore had no access to state protection.
The lower court also ruled that holding the defendants solely responsible for murder would be excessive, pointing to the legal uncertainty that followed the Constitutional Court's 2019 decision striking down the abortion ban.
A protest held in November 2020, urging the National Assembly to pass new abortion laws after the Constitutional Court ruling a year priorJOONGANG ILBO
Since the Constitutional Court found provisions of the criminal law that punished abortions illegal in April 2019, progress in Korea's reproductive rights has been stuck in a limbo.
For example, abortion is no longer a criminal offense in Korea. Yet oral abortion pills such as mifepristone, which are legally used in more than 100 countries to terminate early pregnancies, have still not been approved.
The drug remains unavailable in Korea, forcing women to turn to illegal, unverified online sellers or obtain it from overseas.
Even though the criminal provisions of abortion lost effect in 2021, the National Assembly has failed to pass follow-up legislation defining when and how abortions may be performed.
The five-year — and still unresolved — legal vacuum has left women in a regulatory blind spot. Even President Lee Jae Myung has publicly criticized the prolonged delay in legalizing mifepristone earlier this month.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
