Article from KBS: [August 3, 2015]

Female Teachers Suffer Sexual Abuse, Sign ‘Petition of Tears’, Describe Feeling ‘Incredibly Hopeless’

A case of habitual sexual harassment that took place in a Seoul high school has been made known to the world thanks to the courage of the female teachers who fell victim to it.

KBS News obtained the ‘Petition of Tears’ written by the female teachers.

It claims that a complacent initial response furthered the problem.

On July 16th, female teachers who suffered sexual harassment and their co-workers submitted a petition to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.

“We suffered continuous sexual molestation.” “I cried because I felt so hopeless and uneasy.” These are some of the detailed statements written in the petition.

In particular, the suspected sexual harassment and molestation case of three teachers that occurred last year was brought into focus.

But the principal of their school shelved the issue, saying that sexual harassment was a matter that could be sorted out among adults and that the victim needed to come forth and make a public accusation in order to handle the situation. The principal even appointed one teacher accused of molesting a female student as vice principal of the grade.

A teacher who signed the petition: ‘Multiple teachers sought out [the principal] to warn them. We voiced our concern. We said multiple times that the offending teacher needed to receive professional [sexual violence] prevention training, but there was no follow-up.’

Without any initial response, the accused teachers stopped acknowledging the problem.

A teacher who signed the petition: “He said he didn’t want to end up like the other accused teachers and then proceeded to touch a female student…we were shocked.”

But that’s not all.

The Office of Education confirmed that the professor who was relieved of his position only 10 days ago was also investigated by a prosecutor in June.

The parents of students at this school have recently visited the Office of Education to demand a proper investigation.

A teacher who signed the petition: “The students are vulnerable in this situation. These teachers leveraged their power to take advantage of the students. The students will probably suffer psychological trauma”.

It’s been 15 days since the special investigation began.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has expanded its investigation into sex offenses of the five suspected teachers to include their previous employers.

Comments from Naver:

goso****

To think that those guys were teachers is really scary

rkst****

Isn’t it common sense to investigate each year and only allow the decent human beings to keep teaching? Korea, where you can commit a sex crime and still be a teacher. Is this normal?

mani****

This all happened because punishment for sex crimes is too weak. Considering this can be a fatal crime to a girl, please punish them more strictly.

gmlw****

Sexual violence within a company or school must be punished strictly.

imys****

It seems like Korea is a tough place for those not in power to live.

flra****

The identities and backgrounds of the offenders are slowly being released, I hope they receive an appropriate punishment.

ksoo****

How can this happen in a public high school… in the end, it looks like the principals and teachers sneered upon that neighborhood.

team****

This is a deplorable situation for the student’s parents. I filed a civil complaint at the end of last year to the education office because this school was so weird, where I noted that the principal and vice principal had no interest in education. But the district education office ignored my complaints. The teachers got away with sexual harassment because the principal turned a blind eye, which he did because of money problems. Their relationship was quite poor. Investigate the principal for embezzlement of public money!

team****

The district education office! Get it together. Why do you even exist? If it were your kids, would you want to send them to this kind of school? No matter how many civilian complaints came in, you were always on the principal’s side! You guys should be investigated too. The superintendent should also apologize. At its foundation, you guys appointed a principal and vice principal who had no teaching experience to this school. That was a mistake off the bat. This school reigned over the students and their parents. Is a principal that great? I complained that the teachers were not doing their jobs well and asked that they be a little more enthusiastic, and what do they say? ‘We’ll do it our way. We have the authority to decide how we teach.’ Teachers have the authority to not do their job properly? Ugh

node****

The principal is a real bastard. He absolutely must have his pension confiscated and be thrown in jail.

prin****

Those pieces of shit. The female teachers must have been so stressed.

bles****

Expel every last person responsible for neglect of duty in the Ministry of Education as well as the suspects and start an investigation. There can be no proper education with this going on.

trip****

Anyone who knows a thing or two knows that teachers make a real mess when they go out for drinks together.

csy9****

Give those middle aged pigs who shook the very souls of those girls a proper punishment and strap an ankle bracelet on them for life.

team****