A mother accused of starving her infant to death in 2019 did not attend a court hearing on an arrest warrant Sunday, after she admitted to all charges against her, police said.
The woman, in her 20s, was put under emergency detention Friday on charges of neglecting her baby son and letting him starve to death by not feeding him for three days at her previous home in Daejeon, 139 kilometers south of Seoul, after giving birth in April 2019.
The case came to light after the government launched an investigation to check the well-being of more than 2,000 undocumented babies born since 2015, after two unregistered newborns were found dead in a home refrigerator last month.
On Sunday, the Suwon District Court in Suwon, 30 km south of Seoul, had planned to hold a hearing on an arrest warrant for her, but she decided not to attend it, saying she doesn't object to her detention, police officials said.
The court is expected to decide on the warrant later Sunday.
According to the police, the woman left her ex-boyfriend four years ago without knowing she was pregnant. She gave birth to her child alone at a hospital in Daejeon but did not report the child's information to the local government.
The baby's body has not been found yet, the police said.
Authorities initially searched the mountains near the suspect's previous home in Daejeon for the body after she said she buried it near her old home there. She has since repeatedly changed her story, telling the police different locations, they said.
