By Lee Kyung-min
The human rights watchdog urged the government Friday to recognize two part-time teachers from Danwon High School as having died while on duty.
A standing committee under the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) decided, Thursday, to submit a recommendation to National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun calling for an amendment to related laws to recognize the deaths of Kim Cho-won and Lee Ji-hye as such.
Of nine Danwon teachers who died aboard the ill-fated ferry, the two, aged 26 and 31 at the time of the sinking were the only ones denied the status because they worked part-time.
The other seven were recognized as having died while on duty, and were buried in Seoul National Cemetery.
“The government failing to recognize the two teachers died while on duty is discrimination based on the occupation status, not the work itself,” the NHRC said.
The recommendation came almost two years after the Ministry of Personnel Management rejected the request by bereaved families of the two that sought the recognition in July 2015.
The ministry at the time notified the families that the two were not eligible for government compensation for public servants, as they were not full-time teachers.
It said recognizing the two would set a bad precedent, resulting in similar demands from 46,000 part-time teachers nationwide.
However, the rejection triggered criticism not only from the families but also civic groups and many politicians that claimed Kim and Lee should be treated the same as other teachers because they also sacrificed themselves to help students get off the sinking ferry.
Their families filed a suit in June last year with the Seoul Administrative Court against the Government Employees Pension Service seeking to nullify the state body’s refusal to grant compensation eligible for the bereaved families of public servants who died while on duty.
A group of part-time teachers held a press conference, March 30, urging the ministry to guarantee equal compensation for the two.
“What differences were there other than they were part-time workers? Their deaths are as dignified as the other seven, who did their best to save the children,” the families and part-time teachers said in a statement.