Some cases of child neglect have involved parents who receive welfare benefits An illustration depicting child abuse (Park Ji-young/The Korea Herald) South Korea has had a series of cases this year where parents were found to have neglected their children while receiving regular government subsidies on their behalf, but the government has said it does not have plans to prevent such abuses of the child welfare system, despite calls for government action.Recent reports show that the Ministry of Health and Welfare is focusing on minimizing the application process so people raising children can receive welfare benefits, and not on measures to weed out neglectful parents.Creating an extra hurdle for beneficiaries risks preventing low-income people from accessing state subsidies, the ministry said."There are no ways to set conditions (for child-rearing benefits) under the current law," a ministry official told local media. "(The ministry) is working on content to reinforce (childcare) education for parents, and in September we will start to provide effective education about childbirth and child-rearing through the Bokjiro portal."Bokjiro is a government-run website for applying for government subsidies and searching information related to various welfare programs.There have been widespread calls for government programs to exclude parents who receive subsidies while neglecting their child, particularly in light of recent cases of child abuse that resulted in death.Last month, Daejeon prosecutors indicted a couple in their 20s for starving their infant son to death. The child, who was 7 months old, was left unattended while the parents pocketed around 12 million won ($8,.655) in child-related expenses, even in the month that the child died.The boy weighed just 3 kilograms when he died from severe malnutrition, less than half of what an average 7-month-old boy weighs in Korea. It was found that neither of the parents had intellectual disabilities. Both parents were charged with fatal child abuse.The investigation showed that the child's situation went undetected by the city's emergency child welfare system, and no reports of child abuse or potential health risks were made to the authorities.Another case of child neglect occurred in March in Incheon, when the daughter of a 29-year-old woman died of malnutrition. The Incheon District Court sentenced the woman to 12 years in prison Friday for child abuse leading to death.The woman was initially charged with murder by child abuse, but the court said that her intellectual disabilities limited her ability to raise a child. She was found guilty of severe child abuse, sometimes not feeding the toddler for up to 67 hours at a time and leaving her alone for 92 hours in the five days leading up to the girl's death.The woman had received around 3 million won a month in government subsidies for child support and for being a single parent.The local civic group Free Haedeuns has called on the government to suspend benefits for parents who fail to provide children under 24 months with four health checkups in each stage of their growth. The health examinations are recommended but not yet mandated by law.Rep. Kwon Chil-seung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea is currently pushing for a law revision on mandated health checkups for young children. He said on Aug. 3 that he had received signatures of 1,617 citizens requesting the law revision.