"Would You Send Your Child to an Academy Out of Anxiety?" ... Ongoing Sexual Crimes by Academy Instructors

"I'll Listen to Your Concerns" ... 'Grooming Sexual Crimes' Against Students
Exploiting Their Minor Status or Denying Charges as 'Consensual Relationship'

[Asia Economy Culture Intern Reporter Young] #1. A cram school director who forcibly molested a minor student seven times was sentenced to prison and taken into custody in court. Instructor A at the cram school continuously engaged in acts such as forcibly touching 12-year-old student B’s body while she was solving problems on a computer in the director’s office for about seven months. The court sentenced him to seven years in prison.

#2. In June, a man in his 50s, C, who runs a cram school in Cheonan, was arrested and indicted on charges of sexually molesting and raping young sisters attending his cram school for several years. It is known that the sisters were molested more than 1,900 times. However, C denied the charges, claiming, "We had consensual sexual relations." He argued, "We maintained an intimate relationship, so it was with consent," and "Touching the chest was out of a welcoming feeling, not with the intent to molest."

As sexual crimes by cram school instructors against children and adolescents continue unabated, parents are angry, saying, "Now we are too scared to send our children to cram schools." Parent D, who has elementary and middle school children, expressed frustration, saying, "Child sex offenders like Jo Doo-soon and Kim Geun-sik are roaming society, and now we have to worry about cram schools too?"

Sexual crimes by cram school instructors mostly involve abusing their position and relationship as teacher and student to commit offenses against minor students. They exploit the fact that children and adolescents have difficulty fully exercising their sexual self-determination rights. Instructors sometimes approach students through "counseling" by discussing issues such as friendships and sexuality. In this process, so-called "grooming sexual crimes" occur, where instructors abuse the intimacy built with students. As the relationship grows closer through continuous conversations, the instructor takes advantage of the student’s absolute trust and dependence to commit sexual crimes.

Attorney Kim Gyu-baek said on June 12 on YTN’s Lee Seung-woo Lawyer’s Case File, "Even if violent methods are not used through grooming, if an adult commits a sexual crime against a child or adolescent, it can be punished under the current legal system as rape by coercion." He added, "The definition of coercion is broadly interpreted, and even if coercion is not reached, it can be punished as 'sexual abuse of a child' under the Child Welfare Act."

When sexual crimes by cram school instructors are exposed, they often claim, "The actions were intended to teach," and "There was no intent to commit a sexual crime," further asserting, "The relationship was consensual." They also counter by pointing out inconsistencies and lack of specificity in the victim’s statements, especially when the victim is a minor. For example, A, who molested B, denied the charges by saying, "B’s Korean language skills are poor, so I cannot believe her."

Meanwhile, as many instructors who have committed sexual crimes and are working at facilities for children and adolescents, such as cram schools, have been discovered, parents’ anxiety is growing. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced that from March to December last year, it checked the employment status of sex offenders among about 3.38 million operators and workers at child and youth-related institutions such as schools, cram schools, and sports facilities, and found 67 offenders.

The institutions where the offenders worked were mostly sports facilities at 37.3%, followed by private education facilities such as cram schools, tutoring centers, and private tutors at 25.4%, and youth-use facilities such as museums at 7.5%. According to the current Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sexual Offenses, anyone convicted of a sexual crime against children, youth, or adults and ordered employment restrictions cannot operate or work in child and youth-related institutions for up to 10 years.

Therefore, voices are calling for thorough background checks on sexual crime and child abuse records during the hiring process of cram school instructors and for verifying whether employment restrictions on sex offenders are properly enforced. Shim Chang-wook, a member of the Gwangju City Council, pointed out at the first supplementary budget education and culture committee review of the 309th extraordinary session held last month, "The education office should ensure student safety by proactively managing, supervising, and actively guiding to prevent crimes in cram schools in advance."

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