Girl aged 7 dies in South Korea after being stabbed at school

SEOUL: A child was found in cardiac arrest and later died after being stabbed in a South Korean elementary school on Monday alongside a woman in her 40s who also had stab wounds, local media reported.

Police were investigating the case in the city of Daejeon with the woman as a suspect in the stabbing, local media quoted police as saying. Police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for information.

The child was a seven-year-old girl and was found with stab wounds in the neck and face, a local fire department official told Reuters. Local media said the girl died after being transferred to hospital, and that the woman was a teacher at the school. The woman was hospitalised, the fire official said.

The Yonhap news agency said the woman later admitted to being responsible for the crime. The woman had taken a leave of absence while suffering from depression before returning to work late last year, according to Yonhap.

Likewise, another 11-year-old schoolgirl was found murdered in a wood south of Paris over the weekend, sparking shock and a massive search for clues that could lead to the killer.

The girl was found stabbed to death in the Essonne region south of Paris in the night of Friday to Saturday, police said. She had been missing since leaving school on Friday afternoon.

According to a police source, who asked not to be named, she had been “hit more than 10 times by an object that could have been a knife”, particularly in the torso and neck.

A couple in their twenties were detained Saturday as part of the investigation but were released without any further proceedings at this stage, prosecutors said.

Shock in France over murder of schoolgirl aged 11

While the circumstances of the killing remain unexplained, it comes with law and order, and in particular crime against children, major issues in French politics and society.

“An innocent life was torn away from life and the love of her family. We are in the process of the investigation, but sadness and anger are overwhelming every French person,” said Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.

Some 120 members of the security forces were deployed on Sunday at the Longjumeau wood where the body was found, seeking any clue that could lead police to the perpetrator, prosecutors said.

The search ended with nightfall, according to police.