By Park Si-soo
Staff reporter
A total of 273 teachers and civil servants indicted by the prosecution on charges of "illegal political activities" face dismissals and other sanctions.
The prosecution indicted Thursday 183 members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union and 90 members of the Korean Government Employees Union.
They are suspected of having violated the civil servant law banning them from registering with and donating money to the progressive Democratic Labor Party.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said they will take punitive actions against the civil servants and teachers once the prosecution notifies them of the list.
"They intentionally breached the law banning public servants' participation in political activities, which is a 'grave challenge' to law and order," the government said in a statement.
Of the 90 civil servants indicted, 84 are incumbent. They will be suspended or in the worst case, fired, government officials said. The ministry will ask regional offices to discipline them in line with the results of investigations by the prosecution.
The education ministry has also pledged to take rigorous action against affected teachers.
"No matter what the court's ruling on the issue may be, the teachers will be sanctioned," a spokesman for the education ministry said.
However, the civil servants and teachers are reportedly claiming that they have not registered with any political parties or made regular donations to the progressive party.
The prosecution says that their registration and donations to the party came to light when the prosecution investigated some 800 teachers who were accused of issuing a statement against President Lee Myung-bak in July last year.
It secured a list of teachers and officials in the party through a months-long investigation.
A prosecutor familiar with the case said the total number of teachers and officials on the list was far larger than the number of officials indicted this time.
"The total number may exceed 3,000," the prosecutor said on the condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for the teachers' union said that the teachers have not registered with the political party, calling it "political suppression."
In recent years, the education ministry has struggled with a series of "political activities" by teachers.
For instance, hundreds of teachers who registered with a progressive teachers' union were prosecuted last year for issuing a collective statement condemning President Lee and his administration, a move that could be read as politically motivated which makes it illegal.