'Malicious Complaints' Lead to Daejeon Teacher's Death... Why Is the National Assembly Stalled on the Four Major Teacher's Rights Bills?

Teacher Deaths Continue After Seoi Elementary
Disagreements Between Parties on False Child Abuse and School Records
Ruling and Opposition Parties Agree to Pass Teacher Rights Bills in September Plenary Session

Voices calling for the expedited enactment of legislation to protect teachers' rights are growing following the death of a teacher at Seoul Seoi Elementary School, but disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties over the handling of the teachers' rights protection bill remain unresolved.

Recently, a tragic incident occurred where a teacher, Mr. A, at an elementary school in Daejeon, who had been suffering from malicious complaints and child abuse accusations, took his own life. Mr. A, who had been in the teaching profession for 20 years, was reportedly subjected to malicious complaints from some parents at an elementary school where he worked in 2019.

According to the Daejeon Teachers' Union and fellow teachers, Mr. A was accused of child abuse by a parent after sending a student who had assaulted a friend to the principal's office at an elementary school in Yuseong-gu in 2019. Colleagues explained that the teacher had been suffering from malicious complaints for several years.

On the morning of the 10th, in front of the main gate of an elementary school in Seo-gu, Daejeon, condolence wreaths protesting to the principal of the school where a Daejeon elementary school teacher, who had been suffering from malicious complaints by parents, worked at the time, are pouring in. Photo by Yonhap News

Mr. A also directly reported his case or applied for teachers' rights counseling during the elementary teachers' union's call for cases of teachers' rights violations conducted in July. According to records released by the Daejeon Teachers' Union, Mr. A said, "I tried to comfort myself by receiving psychiatric treatment for three years, but after seeing the Seoi Elementary School teacher's incident again, fear resurfaced and I kept crying."

As teacher deaths continue one after another, calls for legislation to protect teachers' rights are growing, but the current four laws related to teachers' rights protection (Special Act on the Improvement of Teachers' Status and Protection of Educational Activities, Framework Act on Education, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and Early Childhood Education Act) are at a standstill in the National Assembly's Education Committee's bill review subcommittee due to disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties over amendments.

In particular, the part that ensures that legitimate student discipline by teachers is not regarded as child abuse has not been agreed upon.

On the 11th, Kang Min-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" program, "We have agreed that legitimate discipline is not considered child abuse, but in fact, this cannot completely prevent issues related to child abuse," adding, "We need to create a separate system or special provisions for the application of child abuse in the education sector to fully resolve the issue."

The ruling and opposition parties also differ on provisions requiring the recording of teacher rights violations such as student violence against teachers in school life records, and on the plan to establish a Child Abuse Case Review Committee within the education office. Regarding the recording in school life records, the Democratic Party opposes it, arguing that it will increase lawsuits from parents trying to avoid such records, while the People Power Party claims it has a preventive effect on teachers' rights violations.

On the morning of the 7th, at the Education Committee's Subcommittee on Bill Examination held at the National Assembly to review the Act on the Improvement of Teachers' Authority, Chairman Kim Young-ho is striking the gavel. Photo by Yonhap News

Regarding the Child Abuse Case Review Committee, the Democratic Party insists on operating an independent system solely dealing with child abuse, whereas the People Power Party considers it unnecessary since they have already passed a provision to elevate the school teachers' rights protection committee to the education support office level.

The ruling and opposition parties have promised to reach an agreement at the National Assembly Education Committee's bill subcommittee on the 13th and pass the bill at the plenary session on the 21st. Representative Kang stated, "We plan to hold the bill subcommittee on the 13th, approve it at the full Education Committee meeting on Friday (the 15th), and then send it to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee."

Representative Lee Tae-gyu of the People Power Party also emphasized on the same radio program that "The decision to handle teachers' rights-related bills at the September plenary session has long been a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties, and the ruling party, People Power Party, has consistently pushed for this."

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