Parents admit leaving missing 7-year-old boy alone in woods as a punishment
The parents of a seven-year-old boy missing in the mountains of northern Japan have admitted that they left him alone in the woods as a punishment.
The child has not been seen for two days, since his parents abandoned him in northern Hokkaido, a wooded region home to wild bears.
The couple first told police he got lost but they later confessed they had left him alone to punish him, and when they returned he had gone.
They had walked about 500m away from the child before returning, TV Asahi reported.
Hundreds of emergency service workers are still combing the area in search of the boy.
It is reported the parents were initially too afraid to admit they deliberately left the boy alone.
