A High School Teacher in His 50s Fined 2.5 Million Won for Telling a Student, "You Look Like You'll Have Good Children, Be My Daughter-in-Law"

A teacher in their 50s who repeatedly made sexually humiliating remarks such as "You look like you would have good children, so I want to make you my daughter-in-law" to a high school student was prosecuted for violating the Child Abuse Punishment Act and was sentenced to a fine. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Hana Na] A teacher in his 50s who repeatedly made sexually humiliating remarks such as "You look like you would have good children, so I want to make you my daughter-in-law" to high school students he taught was sentenced to a fine.

In the first trial, high school teacher A (54) was fined 10 million won, but in the appeal trial, acknowledging that he somewhat lacked the gender sensitivity required in the changing times, the fine was reduced to 2.5 million won.

In March to April 2018, while teaching, A was prosecuted for violating the Child Abuse Punishment Act by making sexually humiliating remarks such as "You look like you would have good children, so I want to make you my daughter-in-law" to a student.

In addition, until November of that year, A sexually harassed students a total of 11 times by saying things like "I want to make you into a doll and hang you next to my desk and in front of my bed," "Be my daughter-in-law," and "I want to take you home like bossam."

An investigation by a child protection agency targeting students other than the victims also found statements consistent with the victims' testimonies that A regularly made sexually abusive and sexually harassing remarks.

A, who was prosecuted, denied making the remarks or claimed that the content was distorted or exaggerated. He also argued that it stemmed from the teaching process and that there was no intent of sexual abuse.

However, the first trial court recognized all of A's charges as guilty and sentenced him to a fine of 10 million won.

The first trial court judged, "Considering the content and context of (A's) remarks, they exceeded the level socially acceptable, and the number of times was not small, so the blame cannot be considered light."

The appeal court also ruled that "there is no error in the original judgment" and found all of A's charges guilty.

However, the court overturned the original judgment and sentenced A to a fine of 2.5 million won, considering that he admitted his wrongdoing of making inappropriate remarks as a teacher, apologized to the victims, had received a commendation from the superintendent of education, and was in a state of lacking 'gender sensitivity.'

The court stated, "The defendant tried to be friendly with the students, but it appears that he rashly committed the crime while somewhat lacking the 'gender sensitivity' required in the changing times," and "Considering that fellow teachers repeatedly petitioned for leniency, the original sentence seems somewhat heavy and unfair."

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