Jo Kyung-tae "Ju Ho-min sues special education teacher... Schools and education offices must establish protective measures"

Webtoon artist Joo Ho-min has sparked controversy after it was revealed that he filed a child abuse lawsuit against the special education teacher responsible for his child, who has autism spectrum disorder. In response, Jo Kyung-tae, a member of the People Power Party, raised his voice, emphasizing the need for protective measures from schools or education offices for the accused teacher.

On the 1st, Jo said on KBS's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs,' "Instead of the teacher having to respond personally as the party involved, there should be protective measures from the school, education office, or Ministry of Education to prevent teachers from suffering such unfair situations," expressing his opinion.

Rep. Cho Kyung-tae of the People Power Party holds a press conference to announce his candidacy for party leader at the National Assembly on the 16th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Earlier, Joo filed a child abuse complaint against the special education teacher responsible for his child. The teacher was suspended following the child abuse report, but Lim Tae-hee, Superintendent of Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, decided to reinstate him. The teacher will return to work on this day.

Jo stated, "The intense criticism this person is receiving is largely because special education teachers often face significant infringements on their teaching rights," adding, "Fortunately, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education decided on August 1st to reinstate the teacher. There needs to be some institutional safeguards to ensure that teachers who are trying to properly educate students are protected." Jo also requested protection for special education teachers from Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, during the National Assembly's Education Committee meeting on the 28th of last month.

Regarding concerns about the 'decline of teaching authority' following incidents such as the death of an elementary school teacher in Seoul and teacher assault cases, Jo said, "Recently, many teachers have expressed that their teaching authority has plummeted, making it very difficult to educate students," and added, "We need to establish legal or institutional measures to restore teaching authority as soon as possible."

Specifically, he proposed recording incidents of teacher assault in student records. Jo said, "There is an increasing number of teachers being physically assaulted by their students. Beyond verbal abuse, there are many cases of actual physical harm," and continued, "I believe that students who assault teachers should have these incidents recorded in their student records, but the opposition party seems quite negative about this idea."

When asked by the host whether it is currently prohibited to record such incidents in student records, he replied, "There is no legal provision allowing such records to be made," and emphasized, "For the protection of teaching authority, students who engage in such wrongful behavior must be held accountable."

He added, "While student rights are important, the authority for teachers to properly and correctly educate students must be recognized," and said, "Although the Democratic Party understandably emphasizes student rights, the current excessive trend needs to be boldly changed, even if it requires amending the law."

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