A parent who filed child abuse charges against a teacher who mediated a dispute involving their child, and who secretly recorded school classes and other people's conversations by placing a voice recorder inside the child's bag, has been referred to the prosecution.
The Bucheon Ojeong Police Station in Gyeonggi Province announced today (October 21) that the parents of an elementary school student, designated as A, have been referred to the prosecution without detention on charges of violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act.
The incident began in March when a dispute broke out between student A and another student.
The homeroom teacher mediated the dispute between the two students, but afterward, student A's parents raised issues with the teacher's guidance method and filed a complaint.
The parents filed a child abuse complaint against the homeroom teacher and even staged a picket protest in front of the school.
However, investigative agencies did not recognize the homeroom teacher's child abuse charges, and the prosecutors' office also issued a non-indictment disposition for the teacher.
Amid these events, it was revealed that student A's parents had sent their child to school with a voice recorder hidden in the bag.
According to the police, they are accused of secretly recording school class contents and conversations between other people using the voice recorder in March.
The father is also accused of visiting the school in person and making threatening remarks to the homeroom teacher.
The current Protection of Communications Secrets Act prohibits individuals who are not parties to a conversation from secretly recording or listening to private conversations between others that are not public.
Violating this can result in imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year and up to 10 years, and suspension of qualifications for up to 5 years.
The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education's Teachers' Rights Protection Committee determined that the actions of student A's parents infringed upon the homeroom teacher's normal educational activities.
The office designated this case as the first response matter for the Teachers' Rights Protection Task Force launched in July, and filed a complaint with the police against student A's parents in August on charges of intimidation and violation of the Protection of Communications Secrets Act.
At the time, Gyeonggi Superintendent of Education Lim Tae-hee stated, "Threatening a teacher goes beyond an infringement on educational activities and is a challenge to public authority," adding, "We cannot overlook this. We will make an example out of them."
After securing the voice recorder, conducting digital forensics, and investigating related parties, the police referred the parents to the prosecution for violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act, with an additional charge of intimidation applied to the father.
(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Da-in | Design by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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