Teacher Found Dead in School Warehouse After Disciplining Student for Smoking

In May of last year, a middle school teacher in Jeju Island was found dead inside a school warehouse.

Amid growing social concerns over the infringement of teachers' authority and malicious complaints, the story of the teacher who died by suicide last year has been brought back into the spotlight.

The teacher had frequently counseled and guided a student in their homeroom who often skipped school and smoked. The student never showed up at school after that day.

When contacted, the student's family claimed that the student had been falsely accused of smoking and was too afraid of the teacher to go to school. The family also pressured the teacher, threatening to report them to the provincial office of education for allegedly using abusive language toward the child.

Suffering from severe headaches due to the issue, the teacher applied for sick leave, but it was denied.

[Teacher-Vice Principal Phone Call / Actual Call (May 19, 2025): Don't you think taking sick leave and just stepping away might give them more of an excuse? (I have a headache, so...) After we resolve the parents' complaints.]

The teacher sent a text message of apology to the student's family and even requested a meeting, but the appointment fell through, and the teacher ultimately took their own life, leaving a suicide note at the school.

The note contained expressions of grievance and distress, stating, "I did not lie."

Records of dozens of phone calls with the student's family were also found on the deceased teacher's mobile phone, but the Jeju Dongbu Police Station closed its preliminary investigation into the student's family last December, citing no criminal charges.

[Wife of the Deceased Teacher: The police closed the internal investigation on the grounds that my husband apologized, which they took as admitting guilt, and claimed that because my husband answered the calls, it couldn't be stalking since the calls were mutual. There's no way the data would still be on the other party's phone, and the reality that the bereaved family has to run around and investigate this themselves...]

Even while many were grieving the teacher's tragic death, the bereaved family stated that they had not heard a single word from the student's family.

Recently, the production team of the SBS program "Unanswered Questions" visited the student's family to ask about their feelings at the time, but was met only with threats to report them to the police.

[Student's Family: Everything is over now, and we said we wouldn't do anything, so what are you trying to accomplish by showing up uninvited? Hey, just call the police. My heart is pounding so hard I could die. We even attempted suicide.]

Teacher associations have defined this incident as the "second Seoi Elementary School incident," and in January of this year, the Government Employees Pension Service recognized the teacher's death as a death in the line of duty, stating that it was significantly related to their official duties.

Netizens who encountered the story reacted with shock, saying, "It is shocking that a teacher lost their life while guiding a student," and "Things more dramatic than a drama unfold every day."

(Produced by Yoon Sung-sik | Video editing by Kim Na-on | Video source: SBS "Unanswered Questions" Episode 1495 | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.