By Jhoo Dong-chan
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has concluded that the education ministry’s measure last year to ban students from wearing yellow ribbons at schools following the ferry Sewol tragedy infringed on their freedom of expression.
As debates over the ferry disaster were escalating in political circles, the ministry instructed schools in September to ban teachers and students from wearing yellow ribbons, claiming it jeopardized the political neutrality of education and could expose young students to biased political viewpoints.
A student activist group denounced the decision, saying it violated students’ right to mourn and remember the victims of the sinking. The group filed a petition with the NHRC a week after the decision.
The agency said the measure was inappropriate because wearing yellow ribbons was not a “political action.”
“Rather, it was a symbolic expression to mourn and remember the victims of the tragedy,” the agency said in a press release Monday. “The measure violated students’ freedom of expression.”
The agency advised Education Minister Hwang Woo-yeo to make sure that such an incident does not happen again.
Wearing yellow ribbons symbolizes solidarity with families of the deceased teenagers, it said.
Many people participated in the ribbon movement even in the social media, posting the yellow ribbon image as their profile photo on Facebook.
The education ministry said it did not prohibit students from mourning the victims.
“We took the measure because teachers who belong to the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (KTU) reportedly forced students to wear yellow ribbons at schools,” a ministry spokesman said.
“They mobilized young and immature students for political purposes.”