By Park Si-soo
Staff reporter
The Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that a lawmaker does not have the right to post the registry of the teachers’ union on the Internet.
The ruling dealt a severe blow to Rep. Cho Jeon-hyeok of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) who lodged a petition with the court to confirm whether or not the Seoul Southern District Court’s ban on the disclosure of the information on unionized teachers was constitutional.
In a unanimous ruling, the court dismissed Rep. Cho’s appeal to overturn a district court’s decision to impose fines on him for disclosing the names of teachers belonging to the liberal Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU).
“The disclosure through the Internet cannot be seen as a right given to a legislator by the law,” said Lee Kang-kuk, president of the court, in a ruling. “Also, the restriction (on the disclosure of the names) does not infringe on the lawmaker’s constitutional rights to legislate and review bills.”
Obtaining the names of 61,273 members of the KTU in January from the education ministry, Cho posted the list for five days ㅡ April 30 to May 4 ㅡ on his website, despite the district court’s warning against the disclosure and that a 30 million won fine would be charged for each day the disclosure extended.
At that time, Cho said the revelation was necessary since “leftist teachers are skewing public education and parents have every right to know who the members are.”
Cho has claimed the disclosure was within the scope of his work as a legislator, while the KTU argued that there was malice in the intent by accusing the affected teachers.
KTU welcomed the Constitutional Court’s ruling. “It is natural that the court ruled that even a lawmaker should not break the law. Rep. Cho should apologize to the 400,000 teachers for his illegal act,” it said in a statement.
The disclosure and counterattack underscore seething conflicts between conservative legislators and the progressive teachers’ union and, at the same time, provided a snapshot of a society grappling with a widening ideological schism.