A South Korean teacher stabbed to death a minor student at an elementary school in the central city of Daejeon on Monday, media reports said.

The teacher also inflicted stab wounds on herself.

Police told Yonhap news agency that they found the two with stab wounds on the second floor of an elementary school building in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, at around 6 p.m. after the student's parent reported her missing from an after-school art class.

Rescuers transported the eight-year-old girl to a hospital in an unconscious state.

The doctor later pronounced her dead.

The teacher, despite having wounds on her neck and arm, remained conscious.

Police told Yonhap news agency that the teacher admitted to the crime during a subsequent investigation, with officials determining that she might have inflicted the injuries on herself afterwards.

Police told the news agency that they found that the teacher had taken a leave of absence due to depression and returned to the school late last year.

The teacher underwent surgery for the stab wound.

Police said she would be questioned again once she regained health.