By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

An elementary school teacher made a public apology for his harsh beating of students.

The school stripped the teacher of his homeroom teacher post.

The male teacher, Oh Yong-su, of Seolbong Elementary School in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, posted a written apology on the school's Web site Tuesday. It comes four days after a video clip was spread online showing him striking a boy with a broomstick in the classroom.

Oh said in the apology, ``I beg forgiveness from parents and students who were shocked by my excessive corporal punishment and behavior that was unworthy of a teacher. I myself even cannot accept the scene that I caused.''

He said he led the class with his own standards, forcing students to follow rules beyond their capacity. ``I forgot my duty as a teacher who should educate children by respecting their ways. I deeply regret causing pain and torment to the students and their parents by losing my rationality and giving the boys physical punishment.'' Oh said.

Oh added he would accept any penalty.

In the video clip, Oh strikes a boy on the hips and shoulders with a broomstick approximately 10 times. The boy is shown crying and shrieking in pain and fear. The teacher then spanks three other children five times each with the broomstick.

Oh and other teachers said the children had been involved in a fight at recess, and the boy in question had been warned several times before over similar trouble.

Another student recorded the incident with his cell phone camera, and his parents posted the clip on a portal site. The footage spread fast, and bloggers rushed to the school's Web site to denounce the teacher.

The school's headmaster also said on the Web site that he apologizes to students, parents and other teachers who were hurt from the shameful display. The school stripped Oh of his homeroom teacher position and ordered him not to come to the school for a while, according to the headmaster.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr