Police in Daejeon said Tuesday that a teacher at an elementary school admitted to stabbing a seven-year-old girl who was found critically wounded during an afterschool care programme on Monday.

The incident has shocked South Korea, prompting acting President Choi Sang-mok to offer condolences during a cabinet meeting about the child’s death and order the Ministry of Education and the authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident.

The female teacher is being treated for self-inflicted wounds at a hospital, Yuk Jong-myeong, chief of Daejeon’s western district police station, said. She has not yet been arrested, as police are still investigating Monday’s stabbing.

Reported to be in her 40s, the teacher told police that she had recently returned to work after a period of leave for health reasons, Yuk said, also saying she has received treatment for depression since 2018.

The victim was a student at the elementary school where the teacher worked, though police said that a relationship between the two has not yet been established.

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The girl was discovered by her grandmother, an official at the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education said during a media briefing on Tuesday. She was found with stab wounds in the neck and face, a local fire department official told Reuters on Monday, and later died in hospital.