Seoicho 'Pencil Incident' Perpetrator Parent, Police-Prosecutor Investigator

Bereaved Family: "They Must Have Felt Pressure Recognizing Their Identity"

A claim has emerged that the parents of the student involved in the so-called 'pencil incident,' identified as one of the causes of the death of a teacher at Seoul Seoi Elementary School, are a current police officer and a prosecutor investigator.

On the 24th of last month, a memorial message note was attached to the memorial space of teacher A at Seo-i Elementary School in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 22nd, Moon Yoo-jin, the legal representative of the bereaved family, revealed this through various media outlets including KBS, stating, "We confirmed that the parent and the deceased teacher had two phone calls on the day of the pencil incident, last month on the 12th."

The 'pencil incident' refers to an event in the deceased Seoi Elementary teacher’s class where a student tried to stop another student from stabbing his bag with a pencil, resulting in a forehead injury.

Due to this incident, the deceased suffered from severe complaints from the parents of both the victim and the perpetrator students and was known to have communicated multiple times via HiTalk (a work messenger) and school phone with them.

According to police investigation, the perpetrator student's mother, a police officer identified as Ms. A, exchanged calls and left text messages on a work mobile phone on the afternoon of the 12th, six days before the teacher’s death. The perpetrator student's father, known as Mr. B, a prosecutor investigator, visited the school the next day and had a meeting with the deceased, the bereaved family stated.

It was also reported that the deceased had said during their lifetime, "I felt relieved that the pencil incident was resolved well, but I was surprised and creeped out because the related parent called my personal number multiple times."

Attorney Moon said, "On the 12th at 3:30 p.m., the perpetrator student's parent called the deceased twice, sent a text message at 9:01 p.m., and left another message on the work messenger the following day."

He added, "Since the deceased knew that the parent was a police officer, they must have experienced significant psychological pressure and stress. I also understand that a fellow teacher testified to the police that the perpetrator student's mother was extremely angry at the teacher."

In response, the police stated, "We cannot disclose the occupation of the parent and will verify the facts through the ongoing investigation."

Meanwhile, some suspect that because the parent involved is a police officer, the police might be protecting them.

Earlier, on the 14th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said at a press briefing, "After reviewing call records, we found no evidence that the parent directly called the deceased’s personal phone number," and "Overall, no criminal charges related to the motive or process of the death have been detected yet."

However, Attorney Moon criticized this, saying, "We requested disclosure of the deceased’s phone call logs, but the police said they cannot provide them because the investigation is ongoing. Then why did they announce that there are no charges against the parent? This raises questions."

The police explained that while the deceased and the parent communicated via a 'work mobile phone,' there was no contact through a 'personal mobile phone.'

Meanwhile, on the 18th of last month, a second-year novice teacher who was the first-grade homeroom teacher at Seoi Elementary School in Seocho-gu, Seoul, was found dead by suicide on school grounds. There are suspicions that the cause of the teacher’s extreme choice was the 'gapjil' (abuse of power) by parents.

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