Male students also anxious... Repeated cases of male teachers sexually harassing their students

Persistent Contact After Graduation in Daejeon
Sexual Harassment Case Involving 5 Male Students in Jeju

A male teacher who sexually assaulted a minor male student under his care as a homeroom teacher was sentenced to two years in prison.

According to News1 on the 3rd, the 1st Criminal Division of the Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Court (Presiding Judge Seo Jeon-gyo) sentenced Mr. A, who was indicted for violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles Against Sexual Abuse (forcible molestation), to two years in prison. The court also ordered Mr. A to be banned from employment at institutions related to children, adolescents, and persons with disabilities for seven years and placed under probation for three years.

The above photo is not directly related to the content of the article.

Mr. A was tried on charges of taking his former student Mr. B, who graduated from the middle school where Mr. A worked, to his home and molesting him in February of last year. Mr. A, who was Mr. B’s homeroom teacher, continued to communicate with Mr. B through social networking services (SNS) even after Mr. B graduated, then lured him out by saying "I will buy you a meal" and committed the crime. When Mr. B did not readily accept his offer, Mr. A persistently pressured him to meet by telling him to lie to his parents and come out to see him.

The prosecution applied charges of inducing molestation, believing that Mr. A, who had sexual feelings toward Mr. B, called him with the intent to molest. Mr. A claimed he had no intent to molest, but the court did not accept this.

The court stated, "Considering the defendant’s interrogation and the circumstances of the crime, it is recognized that he lured the victim with the intent to molest from the beginning," and added, "Despite the victim expressing refusal, the defendant continued to molest, showing a very bad nature of the crime."

Regarding the sentencing, the court said, "The defendant was formerly a moral and ethics teacher, so it was expected that he would adhere more strictly to morals and ethics, but he committed the crime without consideration of the victim’s sexual identity, which makes the blameworthiness even greater," and "Taking into account the victim and their family’s plea for severe punishment, the sentence was determined."

However, the court dismissed the prosecution’s request for an electronic location tracking device order, stating that it was difficult to conclude that the defendant was likely to commit another sexual crime. Both the prosecution and Mr. A appealed the first trial verdict.

Meanwhile, a high school teacher in Jeju was also sent to the prosecution on charges of sexually assaulting five male students.

On the 2nd, the Jeju Western Police Station announced that they had sent Mr. C, a teacher in his 30s who was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting male students (violation of the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles Against Sexual Abuse), to the prosecution.

Mr. C, a teacher at a high school in Jeju, is suspected of sexually assaulting five male students on and off school grounds from April to November of last year. In mid-November last year, the police received a 112 report stating, "My son, a first-year high school student, was sexually assaulted by a teacher in a bathhouse," and began an investigation.

Subsequently, the school conducted a full survey of sexual violence victims among first- and second-year students, and about 40 students responded that they had experienced sexual assault or physical contact.

The police obtained an arrest warrant from the Jeju District Court on the 26th of last month and arrested Mr. C. The school plans to hold a disciplinary committee soon to decide the level of disciplinary action.