Itanhee: "There Are Teachers in the Nth Room... A Thorough Investigation Is Needed"

Lee Tan-hee, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] Lee Tan-hee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, emphasized the need to conduct a full investigation into teachers involved in the 'Nth Room' case and perpetrators of the School Me Too movement.

On the 16th, Lee appeared on KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs' and said, "Through tips, I learned that among those who committed crimes in the Nth Room and Doctor's Room cases, there are teachers involved." He reported receiving tips that a total of four teachers have been implicated so far: one high school teacher, one special school teacher, and one elementary school teacher.

He added, "One of them is a contract teacher who retired five days before the investigation notice was issued without any penalties." He continued, "If they leave like this, they could be hired as contract teachers at other schools again, but there is no measure to prevent this, so we are preparing institutional improvements."

Lee pointed out, "Upon checking, out of 1,093 teachers convicted of sex crimes over the past 10 years, 524 have simply returned and are currently homeroom teachers." He criticized, "This is truly unacceptable. We need to come up with improvement measures to prevent them from returning to the classroom."

Lee also revealed specific details about the crimes of the four teachers involved in the Nth Room case. He explained, "Among the involved teachers, there was one who downloaded and possessed over 1,000 child sexual exploitation materials, and all were confirmed to be paid members." He added, "We need to investigate how much more horrific acts they may have committed."

Regarding the 2018 School Me Too incident, he lamented, "At the time of the School Me Too case, children had already reported the issues, and if the education authorities had conducted a thorough investigation of the problematic teachers and their classes to check for any victim cases, trust could have been established." He noted, "In Seoul alone, issues were raised in 23 schools, but only 9 schools conducted audits."

He further stated, "Not only should information be disclosed, but we also plan to comprehensively review all systems related to sex crimes during this opportunity." He mentioned, "We intend to prepare and propose the Sex Crime Clean School Act, so I ask for your great interest."

Earlier, on the 15th, during a national audit targeting education offices in the Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi metropolitan areas, Lee criticized the lack of transparency regarding the handling of School Me Too cases, saying, "Whether victims and perpetrators are separated is basic information, yet it is not being disclosed."

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