It made Koreans so sad and angry to see the reported scenes of Wednesday’s funeral for a 10-year-old girl kidnapped and murdered by a man in her neighborhood, who confessed to strangling her to death after failing to rape her.

Public criticism has been raging over the lax monitoring of the 45-year-old convicted sex offender and other legal loopholes that are to blame for the latest in a series of child sex crimes. This time, law enforcement authorities should ensure that everything be checked and done to prevent more children from falling victim to heinous offenses.

A look into the family conditions surrounding the murdered girl further breaks our hearts, driving home the utmost need to tighten the social safety net for children left vulnerable without being properly attended by their parents.

She had no one to take care of her after school and caution her against the convicted sex offender living only 100 meters from her house in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province.

Her biological mother left when she was 2 years old after divorcing her father. Her step mother ran away a month ago. Her father, a daily laborer, returned home late at night after working all day.

The man, who knew too well about her circumstances, appeared to have been more easily tempted into taking her to his house to satisfy his warped sexual desire.

Statistics show children from poor and broken families in crime-prone areas are exposed to a greater threat of sex offenses. An analysis made by a child support center in 2010 indicated nearly six in 10 victims of child sex crimes came from households earning less than 1 million won ($870) per month. Many of the children kidnapped and murdered in recent years were not looked after by their parents, like the girl in Tongyeong. About 1 million children, or one out of every seven kids, are thought to be left unattended across the country.

These figures suggest that strengthening the social safety net for vulnerable children could be the most effective way to help protect them from sex offenders lurking in their neighborhood.

More financial support should be given to programs for taking care of children left alone. This year’s budget set at 43.5 billion won falls far short of helping less privileged families fully benefit from the services.

During her funeral, the murdered girl’s father wished she would run around freely and safely in the heaven. It should be a duty for all of us to enable all children to do so here on earth.