Teacher who made high school girls lie face down... Court says "Inappropriate but not abuse"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] A court ruling has determined that even if a teacher punished female high school students by making them do push-ups and then stand up, it does not constitute abuse.

According to the legal community on the 24th, Teacher A (52, male) at a high school in Incheon strongly slapped the head of his student B (17) with his palm in the teachers' office last December. He did so while scolding B for being late to the winter vacation ceremony without any particular reason.

Earlier, in April 2018, Teacher A made students C (17) and D (17) repeatedly do push-ups followed by standing up and then push-ups again 10 times in the hallway in front of the classroom. These students had bought computer-use sign pens at the school store for a mock exam and arrived late for the exam entry time, for which they were scolded by Teacher A.

About five months later, around the start of night self-study sessions, Teacher A grabbed the back of another female student's head for talking, pulled her toward the classroom, pushed her head through an open window, and reprimanded her by saying, "Look at the other kids studying."

Due to these actions, Teacher A was eventually prosecuted for violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.

However, the court recognized only the act of Teacher A slapping B's head as abuse, while ruling that the punishment involving repeated push-ups and standing was inappropriate but not abusive. Teacher A was fined 2 million won, acquitted of some charges, and ordered to complete a 40-hour child abuse treatment program.

Judge Kim Jinwon of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 9 stated, "It is difficult to see that the defendant had an urgent situation requiring physical coercion against B, and it appears that B could have been disciplined through other means," adding, "The defendant's actions exceeded the bounds of discipline according to sound social norms."

He also added, "The defendant's act of making C and others repeatedly do push-ups and stand up without any regulation appears inappropriate as a method of guiding the children."

However, Judge Kim stated, "Acts of guiding children without a basis in regulations are sufficiently punishable by disciplinary measures," and "If all such acts were considered abuse, the scope of abuse would become excessively broad."