Technical Intern Appeals Corpse Abandonment Conviction to Supreme Court

Nguyen Thi Nguyet, a 21-year-old Vietnamese technical intern, was charged with abandonment of a corpse for leaving the body of her stillborn infant and was found guilty by both the district and high courts. This month, she filed a final appeal challenging those rulings.

Her supporters argue that the case reflects broader social problems, saying many technical interns live in fear of being sent back to their home countries if they become pregnant and are left socially isolated. Pointing to a past case in which the Supreme Court overturned a conviction and issued an acquittal under similar circumstances, they say they hope the court will find Nguyet not guilty as well.

"I felt that my situation and my true intentions were not being properly understood," Nguyet said. On January 13, after submitting her statement of reasons for appeal to the Supreme Court, she spoke about her feelings during an online press conference organized by her supporters.

Events Leading to Arrest

According to the Fukuoka District Court's first-instance ruling and related judgments, Nguyet came to Japan around July 2023 as a technical intern. Around noon on February 2, 2024, she delivered a stillborn baby boy in the toilet of her partner's residence. She then moved to the kitchen, placed the body in a bag, put it on top of a trash can, and covered it with a paper cake box.

Her partner later found her weak and covered in blood and took her to a hospital, where it was discovered that she had given birth. Police were alerted by the hospital and found the infant's body at around 2:00 AM the following day, February 3, and Nguyet was arrested.

Nguyet realized around December 2023 that she was pregnant with a child conceived with a partner she had been seeing before coming to Japan. Believing that she would be forced to return to Vietnam if her pregnancy were discovered, she did not consult anyone or seek medical care.

Supreme Court Precedent

Supporters are drawing hope from a Supreme Court acquittal issued in March 2023 in a similar case.

In that case, a Vietnamese technical intern, Le Thi Thuy Linh, delivered stillborn twins. She wrapped the bodies in towels, placed letters bearing the babies' names and words of mourning alongside them, and set them on a shelf. The act was deemed abandonment, and she was found guilty in both the first and second trials.

*Vietnamese technical intern Nguyen Thi Nguyet (left, face not shown), participating in the press conference online, January 13, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. (©Sankei by Masamune Hashimoto)*

The Supreme Court, however, ruled that although Linh had concealed the bodies, her actions "could not be considered incompatible with customary burial practices," and therefore did not constitute abandonment.

The key distinction between the two cases lies in how the bodies were handled: Linh placed the twins together with letters in a cardboard box, while Nguyet placed the body on top of a trash can and covered it with a cake box.

In Nguyet's first-instance ruling, the court examined this precedent but reached a different conclusion. It found that placing the body on a trash can and covering it with a cake box amounted to "concealment." It emphasized the location where the body was left, stating that it "seriously undermined general religious and reverential sentiments toward the deceased." The appellate court upheld this reasoning.

In response, Nguyet's supporters argue that the body was discovered within about 12 hours, was not buried, and was wrapped and placed temporarily on an object rather than directly on the floor. They contend that these actions cannot be definitively characterized as abandonment.

Systemic Problems

A series of cases involving technical interns accused of abandoning infants highlights not only a question of criminal law — whether the offense of abandonment of a corpse applies — but also deep-rooted problems within Japan's technical intern system.

As of the end of June 2025, there were approximately 450,000 technical interns in Japan. Improving their treatment has long been an issue, extending beyond how pregnancy is handled. Although the government has decided to transition to a new "training and employment" system, many observers believe a fundamental solution remains distant.

In a survey released by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan in December 2022, 26.5% of respondents said they had been told things like, "You'll have to quit if you get pregnant." By nationality, the highest share was among Thai nationals (41.9%), followed by Indonesians (39.3%), Filipinos (31.9%), and Vietnamese (25.8%).

Calls for Reform

Professor Masako Tanaka of Sophia University, who supports Nguyet, attended a press conference following the submission of the appeal.

She pointed out that female technical interns are effectively told not to become mothers when they come to Japan, only to be criticized later for failing to act "appropriately" as mothers if they give birth in Japan. Although the government prohibits discriminatory treatment based on pregnancy or childbirth, she argued that measures to protect women's rights remain inadequate.

Even after the transition to the new training-and-employment system, family accompaniment will generally not be permitted. Through this case, Professor Tanaka said she hopes it will "serve as a starting point for creating a better legal system."