NYC Couple Gets 2 Years in Jail For Keeping Korean Children as Slaves for 6 Years

September 22, 2017

A couple responsible for enslaving two South Korean siblings for years was finally sentenced.

Soo Young Park, 50, and her husband, Jeong Taek Lee, 54, kept the siblings for six long years in what has been dubbed as their “House of Horrors” in Flushing, Queens, New York City.

The couple were entrusted to care for the sister and brother in 2010, who were then 11 and nine years old, respectively. Both pleaded guilty to labor trafficking in July.

The couple seized the siblings’ passports before forcing them to do household chores.

According to local outlet QNS, the sister had to work 10 hours a day after school, including giving Park massages and manicures. From April 2013, she was forced to take jobs and hand over her salary to Park.

It was in August 2015 when the brother was forced to work at a grocery store and submit his earnings to Park, too.

In addition to treating them like slaves, Park reportedly hit and slapped the siblings. It was also reported that their parents had been sending money to the couple the whole time.

The siblings’ plight surfaced in January 2016 when a high school official took notice of the girl’s bruises on her legs.

For these crimes, Judge Joseph Zayas sentenced Park to prison for two to six years and Lee to five years of probation on Wednesday, DNAinfo New York reported.

Park’s sentence improves from an original plea deal of six months in jail, followed by five years of probation.

The siblings have since been reunited with their parents.

Feature Image via Google Maps / QNS

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