More than 90 Teachers Disciplined Annually for Sexual Misconduct... 'One Strike Out' Policy Insufficient

558 Teachers Disciplined for Sexual Misconduct in the Past 5 Years... Over 90 Each Year
Underwear Laundry Assignments for Elementary Students and 'School Me Too' Cases
Ministry of Education Emphasizes Zero Tolerance Policy for Sexual Misconduct by Education Officials Since 2015

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] A first-grade homeroom teacher at an elementary school in Ulsan sparked a sexual harassment controversy after assigning students a homework task to wash their underwear and then posting comments such as "The underwear is pretty" and "So shy." The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education is conducting an audit of the teacher and plans to take disciplinary action based on the results.

Teachers receiving disciplinary action for sexual misconduct have been consistently reported every year. Previously, the Ministry of Education established a zero-tolerance policy to dismiss or discharge any teacher involved in sexual crimes even once, but in actual educational settings, many teachers return to the classroom after being disciplined for sexual misconduct.

Elementary school teacher A recently posted on the Naver social networking service (SNS) 'Band' that "students need to experience slightly challenging successes to build confidence and self-esteem," assigning a homework task to wash underwear and asking students to upload photos of it.

After parents posted photos of their children washing underwear by hand, A commented with phrases like "Pretty underwear," "So shy," and "Pretty (예뻐요)" which sparked backlash from some parents who claimed these were sexual harassment remarks.

Earlier, in March, when the start of school was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, A asked parents in the Band group chat to upload photos of their children’s faces along with brief self-introductions, using expressions such as "I am a gold rush (someone who falls in love quickly) to charming princesses with smiling eyes," "I thought there were only beauties but there are handsome boys too," and "charming and sexy," which also drew complaints.

Additionally, A had assigned similar tasks to students last year. The related video has since been deleted.

As the controversy escalated, the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education reported A to the police and has excluded A from homeroom teacher duties and other school work. The office has formed a special investigation team to begin an audit and plans to discipline A based on the audit results.

Cases of teachers sexually harassing or molesting students at school continue to occur. In July 2018, at a girls’ high school in Gwangju, over 180 students exposed habitual sexual harassment and molestation allegations against some teachers in what became known as the "School Me Too" movement.

At that time, 19 out of 39 male teachers at the school, accounting for 48%, were suspects, and among them, teacher B was sentenced to prison after being found to have molested 28 students 50 times over two years.

According to the "Sexual Misconduct Disciplinary Status" submitted by 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide to former Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Lee Hak-jae’s office on October 18 last year, a total of 558 teachers were disciplined for sexual misconduct from 2015 to August of last year.

By year, the numbers were 99 in 2015, 114 in 2016, 132 in 2017, 114 in 2018, and 99 last year, consistently ranging between 90 and 130 annually, showing no decline.

The government has previously emphasized a strong stance on punishing educational officials who commit sexual violence crimes. In 2015, the Ministry of Education introduced the "One Strike Out" policy, which mandates at least dismissal or discharge for any educational official involved in sexual misconduct even once.

The problem is that despite this policy, many teachers involved in sexual crimes still receive light disciplinary measures.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, among 103 teachers disciplined for sexual misconduct from 2017 to September last year, only 55 received heavy disciplinary actions such as dismissal or discharge. Teachers not dismissed or discharged can return to teaching after their disciplinary period ends.

Regarding this, a Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education official explained, "(Sexual misconduct discipline) is based on the One Strike Out principle, but there are cases where heavy punishment cannot be imposed due to insufficient evidence," adding, "If the prosecution investigation finds no charges during the disciplinary process, heavy punishment cannot be imposed." The official further stated, "However, it is basically required to recommend heavy disciplinary action for teachers involved in sexual violence cases."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.