Sexual harassment on campus

By Park Moo-jong

As an expression of the unlimited respect for their teachers, Koreans used to say: "You should not set foot even on the shadow of your teacher."

It was Teachers' Day a week ago, one of the three celebrated days of this bright month of May; the others being Parents' Day and Children's Day.

Around this time, a 1966 British film, "To Sir With Love," crosses my mind, and this year the memory is special because of what's happening on campus these days.

The movie portrays the indomitable will of a black teacher who finally succeeds in leading his pupils down the right path after overcoming various difficult situations. Sidney Poitier instills in the poverty-stricken teenagers in London's East End a belief in themselves and a respect for one another.

There used to be and still are many such respectable teachers who carry out their duties with equal assurance, even if few recognize what they've done or what they are doing.

On this Teachers' Day, however, very sad and unpleasant news about a once respected teacher made the headlines.

The news reads: "A Seoul court judge sentenced Kang Suk-jin, former professor of Seoul National University, to two-and-a-half years in prison for sexually harassing nine female students."

The sentence of imprisonment for Kang is rare for such sexual misconduct in light of the usual penalty — a fine.

Kang is a world-renowned math professor, who received his Ph.D. at Yale University after graduating from the math department of Seoul National University.

The judge found him guilty of having habitually molested nine students from 2008 to 2014, saying, "The defendant, as a Seoul National University professor, committed a crime that from even a common sense viewpoint we can hardly understand. The victims also appealed for heavy punishment."

The "severe" sentence this time testifies to the meaningful change of social perceptions on sexual harassment in recent years.

What happened to the 54-year-old "star math professor" from a famous family of scholars?

The point of the disgraced math scholar's case is that he committed the crime by abusing his position.

He used to make his students, who planned to go to the graduate school with "good records," go on drinking parties and forcibly kissed them, claiming that it was a "Western-style good night."

His dirty behavior might not have been disclosed without the complaint of a female student who worked as an intern at the 2014 International Congress of Mathematicians held in August in Seoul. "Unfortunately" for the professor, the intern was not a student of Seoul National University.

As he used to do at his university, he called the intern late at night and sexually harassed her. The victim, however, was not student at his university, and so there was no reason for her to bear the insult.

This indicates that the female students he taught at the university endured their teacher's sexual harassment wary of the possible disadvantages he could impose on them.

Regrettably, Kang is not the first professor to bring disgrace to the nation's most prestigious university.

The first sexual harassment scandal — the so-called Intern Wu Case — was brought to court in 1994.

The case was the talk of the town at that time. The intern at the department of chemistry of Seoul National University filed a complaint for compensation of 50 million won against her professor, surnamed Shin, claiming that he repeatedly harassed her by hugging her from behind against her wishes. Prof. Shin had the power to reemploy the intern.

The trial lasted for five years until the Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that any unwanted physical contact was illegal, if it damaged the other's human rights and dignity, and caused mental pain.

Under the then new adjudication, the Seoul High Court ordered the professor, who also sued the intern for libel, to pay 5 million won in compensation to her.

More than two decades have passed since then, yet more serious scandals like the math scholar's case have taken place one after another. Sexual harassment is no longer none of the universities' business.

A leading orchestra conductor confessed the other day that Prof. Shin's case was "the tip of iceberg."

He told me that he saw many similar cases at colleges of music and if "all the things" were brought to light, they would have no choice but to close.

In fact, before the math professor's case took place, Seoul National University fired another professor, a Park, 51, at the department of vocal studies, for sexually harassing a student who was taking a private lesson from him.

Similar cases were reported at Korea and Chungang universities among others.

Some professors suspected of having sexually harassed female students avoided punishment as the school authorities allowed them to resign before official disciplinary measures were taken against them in a bid to conceal the scandals.

The professors, the very people students were supposed to trust and respect, have left deep scars on the young girls.

Who will heal their trauma?

The math scholar's case should be an occasion for the professors of not only Seoul National University but all other schools to deeply consider their actions.

Korean society has grown up enough not to allow those with power to sexually harass their "subordinates."

The writer is The Korea Times advisor. He had served as president-publisher of the paper from 2004 to 2014 after having worked as a reporter for 31 years. Contact him at moojong@ktimes.co.kr.