What happened to 18-year-old Yunho Kim?
In the SBS 'I Want to Know' broadcast on the 20th, the truth surrounding Yunho's death was pursued with the subtitle 'Remember me - The truth about the death of 18-year-old Kim Yun-ho'.
In June, 18-year-old Kim Yun-ho, who was living at a welfare facility for the disabled in Hwasun, South Jeolla Province, died.
The family rushed to the hospital with the sudden news and were puzzled to see bruises and wounds all over Yunho's body.
In particular, the right eye was covered with bruises and was in a swollen state.
The hospital, where Yunho was first treated, suspected these wounds as evidence of abuse and reported it to the police.
However, a facility official asked Yunho's family, who went to the emergency room before the police investigation started, to tell them well that it was a wound that Yunho had made himself, not a wound they had beaten.
However, this statement further amplified the family's suspicions.
Yunho, who has been living at the facility since February of last year, said he was healthy despite his disability.
But then, why did Yunho suddenly die?
The family knew that Yunho was doing self-harm, but it was difficult to fully believe the claims of the facility, which had a lot of wounds and bruises in the past month. The last time Yunho's father met Yunho was a month before his death, and even then, Yunho's eyes were bruised and swollen. At that time, the facility claimed that this was a wound caused by an argument with another child in the facility. The family wanted to take Yunho to the hospital, but the facility did not allow him to go to the hospital due to the corona virus, and instead promised active treatment in the facility.
However, the wounds found on Yunho's body, whom he met as a corpse a month later, were disastrous. It's hard to understand that he's been hurting himself for a month so that he has bruises all over his body.
In this regard, the argument of the establishment was consistent. The wounds are traces of self-harm made by Yunho, and when the child who was napping on the day of his death did not wake up, he took him to the hospital, and they do not even know why it happened.
However, it was difficult for the family to readily believe this claim. There was no CCTV inside the facility, so it was difficult to determine whether these claims were true.
On the day of his death, Yunho was caught on CCTV in the parking lot and looked serious at first glance. And the child who arrived at the hospital was already in cardiac arrest. The specialist said, "Even if there is a developmental disorder, it is still a child, but it is very rare for a child or adolescent to have a cardiac arrest. The disorder you have is a developmental disorder, not a disorder that stops the heart. If the heart stops for medical reasons, it is a sufficient sign. There must have been symptoms. It is not uncommon for the heart to suddenly stop one day without any of that."
Yunho did not have any special health problems, except that he only took drugs to prevent problem behaviors due to his disability. Also, Yunho, who was captured on CCTV the day before his death, did not seem to have any major health problems.
The police conducted an autopsy to determine the cause of Yunho's death. And the autopsy result was unexpectedly 'unknown cause'. Why?
An expert said, "If we in the military momentarily hit the tip of the scapula and die of primary shock, there will be no anatomical findings unless someone witnesses it from the side." He also emphasized that the bruises and wounds found throughout Yunho's body were not the direct cause of death, but were important clues to reveal what happened to Yunho.
Yunho's self-harm behavior that started when he was in elementary school. The dormitory life coach who took care of him in the past was unable to speak as he saw the scars left on Yunho's body at the time of his death. “It wasn’t like this when I saw it,” he said.If the living environment changes, the degree of self-injury may change, but there has never been a case of self-harm in the eyes like that.”
The facility emphasized that there was no such thing as abuse and complained that it was difficult because of negative prejudice in operating facilities for the disabled.
To find out the cause of Yunho's death, the production team conducted a multifaceted analysis with experts based on the traces left on Yunho's body. First, experts paid attention to the color of the bruise. The expert said, "There are bruises of different colors. This means that physical shocks are repeated over and over at different times. In this case, the most common cause may be physical abuse or injury," he said. . And the possibility of repeated self-harm was not ruled out.
Experts also paid attention to the wounds on the inside of both knees. This is because it is an unnatural wound to create by self-harm. The expert said, "There is a wound that appears to be slightly deprived on the inside of the wound. It means that it has been touched for more than a certain period of time. Time must have passed, and moderate or more force must have been applied. This is a wound that is judged like this.”
The facility explained that the wound was caused by Yunho's life in the so-called 'frog posture' or 'W posture', where he usually kneels with both calves facing out. The expert said about this wound, "It must have occurred in a situation that occurred while being in contact with a certain surface for a long time. However, that time seems to have to be quite long.It is questionable whether a living, healthy child can be fixed in such a position for an hour or two or three or four hours.”
The production team interviewed people who usually sit in the W position. Similar wounds were not found on the inside of the knee of those who had been in this position for more than 5 to 10 years. In addition, through a forensic video analyst, it was confirmed that Yunho's knee wounds were not symmetrical, and confirmed that this is a wound that can occur when a considerable force is applied to one side. This drew attention because it was difficult to make a wound due to the W posture as claimed by the facility, especially the photos sent by the facility or Yunho sitting in the W posture even when we met a month ago.
In addition, experts said that pressure wounds commonly found on the knee, instep, and heel, and the autopsy doctor revealed that Yunho's official cause of death is unknown, but it is difficult to rule out the possibility of asphyxiation due to compression in the nose, mouth, and neck. . Experts also pointed out that as wounds that were the cause of suffocation were observed, it is necessary to investigate why these wounds occurred.
The production team even did a simulation using an ergonomic program. In the process, if pressure is applied while lying flat with the arms turned, the inside of both knees, the top of the foot, and the heel are pressed, and the possibility that the nose and mouth may be blocked, leading to suffocation.
Pastor Kang runs two facilities for the disabled and is also active as a reporter.
They were highly regarded in the area.
However, ten days after Yunho's death during the interview, Pastor Kang's eldest son, who was in charge of the facility's operation, made an extreme choice.
His will, pleading for his innocence, ended with the story that he would take good care of Yunho in heaven.
One informant claimed that his father was abused at the facility.
The condition of the informant's father's arm, which was so severe that he had to undergo a skin transplant, happened during a period where he was unable to visit for several months due to Corona.
In response, the facility claimed that the informant's father was injured by breaking the toilet.
The facility also explained that his condition worsened despite the daily treatment of his father scratching and plucking the wound.
However, the agency that investigated the case judged it as abuse and filed a complaint against the facility.
An informant who worked at the facility said, "The children cried every day because they were pitiful and pitiful. If they gave food like that, is it human food or dog food?
The informant also said that while working at the facility, he witnessed Pastor Kang's wife and daughter-in-law indiscriminately assaulting the inmates.
In addition, residents of the area where the facility is located claimed that the facility forced the inmates to work, and that even after Yunho's death, screams were heard several times over the fence.
What is going on inside the alternative facility?
(SBS Entertainment News Editor Kim Hyo-jeong)