[2025 National Assembly Audit] Ten Disciplined Professors for Sexual Misconduct Still Teaching at Korea National University of Arts

Jeong Yeonwook, member of the People Power Party. Courtesy of Jeong Yeonwook's office

It has been revealed that a significant number of faculty members at Korea National University of Arts who were disciplined for sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other misconduct have returned to the classroom and are currently teaching again.

According to data released on October 20 by Jeong Yeonwook, a member of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, a total of 15 faculty members at Korea National University of Arts have been disciplined since 2016, and 10 of them (approximately 67%) are still employed at the university.

Among these cases are faculty members who were suspended for offenses such as sexual assault, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and teaching while intoxicated, but returned to their positions after a certain period. Assemblyman Jeong pointed out, “The repeated pattern of disciplined faculty returning to teaching has resulted in victims leaving and perpetrators remaining at the university.”

One representative case involved Park Geunhyeong, a professor at the School of Drama. In April, Professor Park was suspended for three months after attending class under the influence of alcohol, kissing a student on the cheek, and making remarks such as, “Dear, I like you.” Although Korea National University of Arts initially planned to allow his return after the suspension, Professor Park resigned amid growing student demands for his dismissal and mounting public criticism.

Kim Taewoong, a professor in the Department of Playwriting, also returned to teaching after being suspended for three months in 2018 for sexual harassment. This year, it was confirmed that he assigned students a task that included “adding a scene where a man dominates a woman” and distributed materials to students containing references to “underwear styles” and “sexual preferences.” The university responded only with a warning in this case as well.

Assemblyman Jeong criticized, “As a national arts university, Korea National University of Arts should uphold higher ethical standards, but the system allows disciplined faculty to return and post-disciplinary monitoring is inadequate.” He added, “The president must take responsibility, restrict the reappointment of disciplined faculty, and reform the system to strengthen protection for victims.”

The student body at Korea National University of Arts stated, “The university’s measures were not solutions, but merely reactive responses to public pressure,” and warned, “If the structure allowing disciplined faculty to continue teaching does not change, the title ‘cradle of artists’ will lose its meaning.”