Police Summon Teacher Who Posted Online About Parents' Abuse Allegations at Seoi Elementary School

Representatives from the Korea Federation of Teachers' Associations and the National Teachers' Group held a press conference on the afternoon of the 30th of last month in front of the Ministry of Personnel Management at Government Sejong 2 Complex in Sejong City, delivering a national petition for the official recognition of the honorable death of a teacher from Seoul Seoi Elementary School. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The police summoned and investigated an active teacher who had posted suspicious articles related to the death of a teacher at Seoul Seoi Elementary School on the internet. This was in response to a parent, who had raised allegations of power harassment against the deceased, filing numerous lawsuits against netizens.

The Ansan Danwon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 30th that they summoned teacher A, who was sued on charges of violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (defamation), on the 28th as a suspect for investigation.

Teacher A is accused of posting content that defamed the parent involved in the so-called Seoi Elementary 'Pencil Incident' on the online community 'Bobaedream' on July 20. This incident involved a student in the deceased teacher’s class drawing on another student's forehead with a pencil on July 12. Related to this, allegations arose that parents repeatedly complained to the deceased, causing distress. The deceased teacher took their own life at school on July 18.

According to the police investigation into the teacher’s death, there was no evidence of continuous harassment, verbal or physical abuse, or threats by the parents. The parent in question claimed to have suffered due to false posts alleging power harassment against the deceased teacher and filed lawsuits against 26 netizens who posted related content on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation).

The police confirmed a total of 40 related posts as of last month and identified 13 individuals. Among them, 10 people residing in other police jurisdictions were transferred to the respective police stations, and investigations are ongoing for 25 posts whose authors have not been identified.