"'Eolleri Kkolleri' Teacher Couple Secretly Kissed" Controversy Over Elementary Teacher Training Performance

Criticism is rising over the inappropriate content of a performance held at the Innovation Education Training Institute under the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education. Photo by Gyeonggi Innovation Education Training Institute website screen capture.

[Asia Economy Reporter Nana] Criticism has arisen over an online training session for newly appointed elementary school teachers in which a couple of teachers were ridiculed and sexually harassed.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education's Innovation Education Training Institute conducted an online training called "Newly Appointed Teacher Job Training" for 248 new elementary school teachers on the 17th. During the 1 hour and 40 minutes session titled "Stories of Students and Teachers through Hip-hop," two active elementary school teachers performed a hip-hop show sharing school life tips.

The instructors passionately sang a song called "Bubu Gyosa" (Couple Teachers). The lyrics included lines such as "Eolleri kolleri, you became a couple teacher / Eolleri kolleri, secretly kissing again / Eolleri kolleri, holding hands and going on trips / Eolleri kolleri, solving the low birthrate / Men can't eat but must be couple teachers / There are vacations, stable salary, and fixed quitting time."

Participants watching the session exchanged messages in real-time, pouring out criticism. Comments like "There is no gender sensitivity at all," "Cheesy and lame male teacher vibes," and "It looks like misogynistic content" were raised. Upon receiving these criticisms, the instructors reportedly apologized immediately. However, as the content became public, controversy escalated.

Ultimately, the training institute issued an apology the next day through its website under the name of Hanyangsu, Director of the Gyeonggi Innovation Education Training Institute, stating, "We deeply reflect on our failure to thoroughly review the selection of instructors and the training content, and we sincerely apologize. We will carefully prepare high-quality training in the future to ensure that such unfortunate incidents do not occur again."

However, the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations released a statement on the 19th titled "Training that gave shame instead of pride, we are angry and condemn it," saying, "It is deplorable that the newly appointed teacher training included sexual harassment and belittlement of couple teachers," and pointed out that "the content undermines the authority and pride of not only teachers but all educators." The federation demanded an official apology from the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education and measures to prevent recurrence.