The father of a 5-year-old girl found dead on a hillside in North Jeolla Province admitted Monday to having assaulted his daughter, according to police.


Officials from the North Jeolla Provincial Police Agency said Ko Jun-hee’s father, 37, told the investigators that he had beaten his daughter with his hands and feet in April at his house in Wanju, North Jeolla Province. He, however, refused to elaborate why and where he hit her, police said. 

Ko’s girlfriend, only identified by her surname Lee, is reported to have also hit Ko’s daughter. The father told the investigators that he has seen Lee hitting his daughter and that the girl was seen crying after Lee repeatedly hit her.

Police said the father and Lee’s violence may have continued since January last year, when Jun-hee’s birth mother left her to be raised by the father. 

Police said the father has repeatedly changed his testimony.

Ko previously claimed that his daughter died from choking on her vomit and that he concealed her death for fear that it would cause trouble in his divorce settlement with her birth mother.

On Sunday, the National Forensics Service’s preliminary autopsy of Jun-hee showed bones on the back of her body were broken, including three ribs. They said the bones could have been broken as a result of external force. 

The father previously said that the ribs may have been broken while the family attempted CPR. Forensics doctors, however, said there was a low possibility of CPR causing such damage.

On Friday, the North Jeolla Provincial Police Agency found the abandoned body of Jun-hee buried on a hillside in Gunsan after her father confessed to his crime the night before. 

Police on Saturday detained Ko’s father and a 61-year-old woman -- the mother of Ko’s girlfriend -- on suspicion that they dumped the body of the girl in April. 

Ko’s girlfriend was formally arrested late Sunday for her role in disposing the girl’s body. 

Ko and Lee reported his daughter missing on Dec. 8, telling police that she went missing after leaving her home on Nov. 18. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)