The special education teacher who has been on trial on charges of emotionally abusing the son of webtoon writer Joo Ho-min is set to receive one-on-one teachers' rights protection support from the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education.
The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education announced that the Teachers' Rights Protection Committee, directly under the superintendent, recently classified the case of special education teacher A as a "reported child abuse" case and decided to provide dedicated support.
When a report of rights infringement is filed, the committee classifies the case into one of three areas: reported child abuse, infringement of educational activities, or malicious civil complaints, and then determines whether the case requires direct support from the committee.
Considering the gravity of the situation, the education office has initially assigned one full-time teachers' rights protection officer, an educational specialist, to teacher A, with plans to provide customized support by additionally assigning legal experts including attorneys in the future.
Previously, teacher A was indicted without detention on charges of making emotional abuse remarks, such as "your behavior is very bad" or "I hate you to death," to Mr. Joo's son, who had an autism spectrum disorder and was 9 years old at the time, in a special education classroom at an elementary school in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, in 2022.
The case began when Mr. Joo's spouse, suspecting abuse, recorded the statements using a recorder placed inside their son's jacket and subsequently filed a complaint against teacher A based on the recording.
The first-instance court recognized the admissibility of the recording as evidence and sentenced the teacher to a 2 million won fine with a suspended sentence. However, the second-instance court overturned the original ruling and acquitted the teacher, stating that the secretly recorded audio fell under "private conversations between others not open to the public" pursuant to the Protection of Communications Secrets Act and thus lacked admissibility as evidence.
The case is currently awaiting a final ruling by the Supreme Court following an appeal by the prosecution.
Amidst these circumstances, teachers' organizations collected signatures from some 24,000 teachers nationwide and submitted a petition to the Supreme Court urging an acquittal.
The Gyeonggi Teachers' Union, which has been supporting teacher A, stated, "Even after the acquittal in the second trial, the opposing side's response is so strong that it is a situation difficult for an individual to handle alone. Continuous support from the education office is necessary, and teachers are reassured by the education office's support."
Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Kim Min-ji | Design by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
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