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

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

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

Upon contacting the family to check, the student claimed to have been falsely accused of smoking and stated they could not go to school because they were afraid of the teacher. The student's family also pressured the teacher, threatening to report them to the Provincial Office of Education for allegedly using verbal abuse against the child.

Suffering from severe headaches due to this issue, the teacher applied for sick leave, but it was not granted.

[Teacher-Vice Principal Phone Call / Actual Call (May 19, 2025): Don't you think taking sick leave and just stepping away right now might give them more of an excuse? (I have headaches and things...) Let's resolve the parents' complaints first.]

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 behind a suicide note at the school.

The note contained feelings of injustice, reading statements such as "I did not lie."

Although dozens of call logs with the student's family were found on the deceased teacher's mobile phone, the Jeju Dongbu Police Station closed its internal investigation into the student's family last December, citing a lack of criminal charges.

[Wife of the Deceased Teacher: The police concluded their internal probe, saying that because my husband apologized, it meant he admitted fault, and arguing that phone calls constitute stalking only when one-sided, but my husband answered the calls. There is no way the data would still be there on the other person's phone, and the reality is that the family has to run around and investigate these things...]

Even as many fell into deep sorrow over the tragic death of the teacher, the bereaved family states they have not heard a single word from the student's family.

Recently, the production team of SBS "Unanswered Questions" visited the student's family to ask about their feelings at the time, but was met only with the response that they would "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 suddenly showing up here? Hey, just report it to the police. My heart is pounding so hard I could die. We even attempted suicide.]

Teacher associations have designated 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 comments such as "It is shocking that a teacher lost their life while guiding a student" and "Things more dramatic than a drama unfold every day."

(Planned by Yoon Sung-sik | Video edited by Kim Na-on | Screen source: SBS Unanswered Questions Episode 1495 | Produced by SBS Digital News)