"Will Feed You Bean Rice" Teacher Death... Parent's Verbal Abuse Confirmed

January Temporary Teacher Incident
Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Investigation Results Announced

It has been confirmed that a contract teacher who died by suicide last January suffered from verbal abuse and malicious complaints from parents, including threats such as "You will never be allowed to teach again."

The family of a newly appointed teacher who died by suicide at Seoi Elementary School urged a thorough investigation at a press conference hosted by the National Elementary School Teachers' Union in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education last July.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 15th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education held a press conference to announce the results of an investigation into complaints related to the death of contract teacher Oh at Sangmyung University Affiliated Elementary School (Sangmyung Univ. Affiliated Elementary School).

Oh, who worked as a contract teacher at Sangmyung Univ. Affiliated Elementary School from March to August last year, took her own life last January. The case came to light when the deceased’s father entered the press conference held by Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon on July 24 regarding the death of a teacher at Seo-i Elementary School in Seoul and requested, "Please also investigate my wronged daughter."

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education immediately forwarded the complaint to the Public Interest Reporting Center under the education office. The center conducted preliminary investigations including interviews with the bereaved family, review of Oh’s medical records, and interviews with parents, followed by two audits of Sangmyung Univ. Affiliated Elementary School in September and October.

The bereaved family claimed that during her tenure, the deceased suffered from excessive homeroom teacher duties and, while handling school violence incidents, endured verbal abuse from the parents of the offending students, such as "I will report you to the police," "I will make you eat prison food," and "You will never be allowed to teach again," causing her great distress.

The investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education confirmed that Oh had to endure frequent overtime work and that her personal mobile phone number was disclosed, requiring her to respond to parents’ complaints even on weekends and at night. At Sangmyung Univ. Affiliated Elementary School, homeroom teachers’ personal mobile contact numbers are disclosed to parents.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, is speaking at an emergency joint press conference between the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and three teacher organizations held at the Office of Education in July.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the audit team’s investigation, regarding a school violence incident that occurred in June last year, the deceased had students reenact the situation to accurately inform the parents of both the offending and victim students, recorded the reenactment on video, and sent it to the parents. Nevertheless, it was confirmed that one parent made threatening remarks to the deceased, such as "I will report you to the police."

Oh visited a psychiatric clinic due to this incident and received treatment for psychotic disorder and depression until shortly before her death in January this year. The hospital regarded Oh’s suicide as resulting from pathological behavior.

The audit team stated, "It is acknowledged as fact that the deceased suffered mental distress due to excessive protests and threatening remarks from parents," and judged that she died while being diagnosed and treated for depression. However, among the suspicions raised by the bereaved family, no violations of laws by the school or administrators related to the cause of Oh’s depression were confirmed.

The bereaved family plans to submit an application for industrial accident compensation insurance benefits to the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service. They are also considering criminal charges against specific parents for their abusive complaints.

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