Lee Ju-ho: "An Incident That Should Not Have Happened at School... Could Have Been Prevented with Guidelines"

Emergency Inquiry at National Assembly's Education Committee on the 18th
Daejeon Elementary School Student Death Incident
Preventive Measures to Be Established Through the 'Haneuli Act'

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho expressed deep apologies regarding the death of an elementary school student in Daejeon, saying, "I deeply apologize for the incident that should never have happened at school."

On the afternoon of the 18th, Lee attended an emergency inquiry session at the National Assembly's Education Committee in Yeouido, Seoul, and responded to Democratic Party lawmaker Jeong Eun-ho's request for an official apology regarding the late Kim Ha-neul. In response to lawmaker Ko Min-jung's question, "Do you think this was an incident that could have been prevented from the start?" he said, "If the system had been well established and there had been clear guidelines on student safety, this could have been sufficiently prevented," adding, "It is regrettable."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho is giving a related report on the issue during the full meeting of the Education Committee at the National Assembly on the 18th regarding the recent incident involving the murder of Daejeon elementary school student the late Kim Ha-neul. 2025.2.18 Photo by Kim Hyun-min

On that day, members of the National Assembly's Education Committee intensely questioned the reasons for failing to prevent the tragedy.

Lawmaker Ko pointed out, "Because this was an incident that could have been prevented, we must amend laws and systems to prevent future occurrences," and added, "When reinstating the offending teacher, there were two blind spots, including the fact that a space where the child was alone inevitably occurred." She also inquired about the circumstances under which the offending teacher, who initially needed a six-month leave of absence, returned to work after only 20 days of sick leave.

Seol Dong-ho, Superintendent of Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education, replied, "He returned because he wanted to," and explained, "The education office reinstated him because the medical certificate stated he was capable of working. We will strengthen the review of illnesses going forward." Regarding the fact that the Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education's Sick Teacher Review Committee has not convened even once since 2020, he explained, "Personal information was leaked, and human rights protection was not ensured."

On the same day, the Ministry of Education decided to establish policies distinguishing between 'high-risk teachers' who pose harm to others and 'teachers with general psychological difficulties' in relation to the 'Haneul-i Act (Amendment to the Education Officials Act).' The Haneul-i Act is expected to include provisions allowing for the urgent separation of teachers who find it significantly difficult to perform their duties normally from the educational field and to take measures such as compulsory leave through the 'Teacher Duty Suitability Committee.' During the Education Committee session, there were calls for clear criteria regarding high-risk teachers.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sung-jun said, "We need to clearly define the high-risk group," and added, "The Teacher Duty Suitability Committee's deliberations should be conducted with restraint; if overused, it could cause harm." Kang Kyung-sook of the Justice Innovation Party also said, "It is inappropriate for all teachers to be treated as potential criminals because of one violent teacher," and emphasized, "There needs to be comprehensive and systematic discussions about the degree of violence, aggression, and risk."

Deputy Prime Minister Lee responded, "I agree. We need to distinguish between teachers' mental health issues and the potential to harm children," and said, "I believe we need to think deeply and come up with measures. We will also create criteria reflecting the purpose."