Suspicion of Unimaginable Abuse of Power: Vice Principal's Verbal Abuse and Sexual Harassment at Suncheon High School

Suspicions of Abuse of Power by Vice Principal Raised at a Girls' High School in Suncheon

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] Controversy has arisen over allegations that the vice principal at a girls' high school in Suncheon, Jeollanam-do, engaged in various abuses of power.

According to the Citizens' Group for a Society Without Academic Elitism on the 1st, Vice Principal A of Suncheon 00 Girls' High School repeatedly committed abuses of power, including sexual harassment of female teachers, derogatory remarks about teachers' parents' appearances, infringement of educational rights, and false reporting of COVID-19 self-quarantine.

The Citizens' Group for a Society Without Academic Elitism stated, "The abuses committed by Vice Principal A are beyond imagination. He prohibited science teacher B from using the science lab, infringed on educational rights by monitoring B through other staff members, and gave unfair tasks such as ordering teacher C to remove window tape during class," urging the Jeollanam-do Office of Education to conduct a thorough audit.

Teacher B, who claims to be a victim, said, "Vice Principal A has been committing various abuses since his time as head of the academic affairs department," adding, "His tyranny was so severe that I opposed his acting vice principal role in September 2018. At that time, I sent letters to 15 members of the school foundation's board and even held a solo protest to expose the abuses."

He continued, "Because of that incident, I was neglected at school and had a hard time eating alone in the science lab," and appealed, "Vice Principal A instructed other staff members not to eat or drink tea with me, and monitored my every move during class through the head of academic affairs and the head of research."

He added, "Verbal abuse was basic, and he also committed sexual harassment and sexual assault by telling female teachers to 'lose weight.' The abuse was so unbearable that I took early retirement on the 28th of last month, with six years left in my 32-year career."

Another teacher claimed, "Vice Principal A (then head of research) forced me to drive to his son's election office when he ran for city council in 2018 and threatened, 'Mobilize your friends to vote for my son. If you don't, you'll regret it.' This is an abuse of authority and not appropriate behavior for an educational public official."

On the other hand, Vice Principal A stated, "At the time of my son's election, I was not vice principal but head of research and asked a fellow teacher to drive, so it was not an abuse of authority," and added, "I also apologized immediately to the teacher after judging that ordering the removal of window tape was not a wise decision."

Regarding the sexual harassment allegations toward female teachers, he said, "In 2019, I tapped a female teacher on the shoulder and told her to greet with courtesy. The teacher requested me to refrain because of shoulder issues, and I apologized and promised to be careful, concluding the matter."

A Jeollanam-do Office of Education official said, "We conducted two rounds of audits on the school on the 16th and 25th of last month. We have investigated comprehensively and are currently reviewing internally to confirm the facts clearly."

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