Jail term upheld for man who left son hanging from electric wire

A South Korean father who hung his 5-year-old son by the wrists from an electric wire for secretly watching television was sentenced to 18 months in prison, a local court said on Tuesday. 

According to court records, the man tied up his son by the wrists and hung him on the electric cable in the back yard of their house because the boy was watching television at night without permission. He told the child not to move for two hours, warning he could be electrified.

The Daegu District Court upheld a lower court’s verdict that handed down the prison term to the 52-year-old father for child abuse.

The father is an alcoholic, according to court records, and is also accused of physically assaulting his wife and the boy.

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)