Yoon: "Engrave Teachers' Voices to Ensure Teachers' Authority and Fully Restore Normalcy in Educational Settings"

President-led Chief Secretary Meeting
200,000 Current and Former Teachers Gathered on the 2nd

Yoon "Firm Response to Anti-State Acts"
Seemingly Targeting Yoon Mi-hyang for Attending Chongryon Event

President Yoon Suk-yeol instructed on the 4th, "Deeply reflect on the voices raised by on-site teachers last weekend and make every effort to establish teacher authority and normalize the educational field."

President Yoon made this statement during the senior secretaries' meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office that morning, according to a written briefing by Lee Do-woon, spokesperson for the Presidential Office.

On July 2nd, 200,000 current and former teachers nationwide, dressed in black, gathered in front of the National Assembly to demand a thorough investigation of the incident and measures to restore teacher authority, two days before the 49th-day memorial service for the teacher from Seocho-gu Seo-i Elementary School who died by suicide on July 19th.

The teachers who participated in the rally at the time demanded an amendment to Article 17, Clause 5 of the Child Welfare Act. The clause prohibits "emotional abuse acts that harm the mental health and development of children."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Teachers argue that "the emotional abuse clause is being indiscriminately applied, causing legitimate educational activities by teachers to be suppressed, and students fail to learn responsibility, consideration, and self-restraint."

Recently, a teachers' organization filed a constitutional complaint, stating that vague punishment provisions for emotional abuse in the Child Welfare Act have led to indiscriminate child abuse reports against teachers.

In addition, they demanded ▲strengthening the obligations and responsibilities of students, parents, and educational authorities ▲practical measures to guarantee the educational rights of students who are immediately separated ▲establishment of a unified nationwide complaint handling system ▲redefinition of school violence ▲separation of education and childcare ▲guarantee of teachers' rights in education ▲and teacher participation in all processes of education-related legislation and policy implementation.

Frontline teachers named the day of the 49th-day memorial service as the "Day of Public Education Stop" and have announced collective actions such as rallies in front of the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, President Yoon emphasized, "We must respond firmly together with all citizens, regardless of political camp, to anti-state acts that shake and destroy the free democratic order." This statement is interpreted as targeting independent lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang, who attended the memorial ceremony for the massacre of Koreans during the Kanto Earthquake hosted by the pro-North Korean organization General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon).

The ruling party and government sharply criticized Rep. Yoon's attendance at the Chongryon event. The People Power Party plans to submit a disciplinary proposal against Rep. Yoon at 11 a.m. that day. The Ministry of Unification announced that procedures such as imposing fines will proceed, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated that Rep. Yoon's attendance was "inappropriate."

Independent lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang attended the memorial event for Korean victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake's 100th anniversary held at Yokoamicho Park in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, Japan, on the 1st, waiting to lay flowers at the memorial monument. [Image source=Yonhap News]

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