Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Teacher gets suspended jail term for underwear homework assignment
Members of civic group Political Mamas hold a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul, in this May 13, 2020 photo, before filing a petition calling for punishment of a male elementary schoolteacher for using inappropriate language and behavior toward first graders. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
A male teacher at an elementary school in Ulsan has received a suspended jail term for ordering his students to upload photos of them washing their underwear to the class' online community, and posting inappropriate comments about his students.
The Ulsan District Court said, Wednesday, that it sentenced the former elementary school teacher in his 40s to one year in prison, suspended for three years, for violating the law on child abuse. It also ordered him to receive 40 hours of lectures on sexual violence prevention and banned him from working in any jobs related to children for five years.
The man's inappropriate behavior was made public in April last year, when a parent shared screenshots of the teacher's comments on social media.
He ordered his first-grade students to upload photos of them washing their underwear to the class' online community. The man then shared the photos on social media and left a number of lewd comments such as “I like her pink underwear,” “She is sexy and charming” and “I'm begging my wife to divorce me so that I can marry you when you grow up.”
After the case was made public, a petition was filed on the Cheong Wa Dae website calling for his dismissal, attracting more than 20,000 signatures. The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education reported the teacher to the police and dismissed him in May last year.