A 57-year-old male teacher who molested the students of’Yonghwa Girls’ High School Me Too’ was finally arrested in court. It’s been 3 years

(After putting a Me Too note on the window) A teacher called to the school office as if angry. ‘Do you want to make your school work known to the world?’ and’Are you proud if you stick it like that?’ After that, the broadcast told me to take the post-it. Some students took off post-it because of their sympathy for the teacher and the school broadcast, while other students had a conflict saying’why did you take that off?’

-In June 2018, a forum is reporting the actual status of enrolled students

The court responded with With You to the teenagers’ Me, too. It’s been 3 years.

On the morning of the 19th, there was a sentence of sexual violence on teachers under the Seoul Northern District Law. It was the first trial sentence for violation of the Youth Sexuality Protection Act by a former Korean teacher at Yonghwa Girls’ High School in Nowon-gu, Seoul (57). The 11th Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Law (Judge Ma Seong-young) sentenced Mr. A to one year and six months in prison and imprisoned him in court.

The judiciary admitted that Mr. A had been forcibly harassing 5 students several times in 2011~12. The judge said, “The victims’ statements are intrinsically consistent and the description of the situation is specific. The accused’s behavior is not good, even during the harassment. As an educator, he forgot his mission and harassed the victims.”

In April 2018, when students posted Me Too notes on classroom windows, this incident, which was known to the world, took three years to punish the perpetrators.

Teacher who returned after being investigated, “I will find the person I pointed to”

The incident dates back to March 2018. The’Yonghwa Girls’ High School Sexual Violence Root Draw Committee’, composed of graduates, conducted a’Yonghwa Girls’ High School Sexual Violence Survey’ on SNS. There were 175 reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence by teachers. In April of that year, the committee posted an article in the Blue House National Petition saying, “Investigate all power-type sexual violence in private schools and strengthen punishment.” Accordingly, the Office of Education decided to conduct a survey on the actual condition of sexual violence against enrolled students.

On April 6, 2018, on the day of the Office of Education investigation, 3rd grade students first began to post Me, too, With you, and We can do anything as post-it on the classroom window. did. It was to give the courage that my friends would be struggling. The first and second graders who saw this wrote down’I’m not alone’,’It’s not your fault’, and’I’ll protect you’. In this way,’Window Me Too’ became known to the world. Students cheered for each other, and many citizens cheered for the students’ courageous actions.

But that was it. The Office of Education and the school corporation disciplined 18 teachers, but 15 teachers returned to school. The prosecution did not prosecute even the teacher A, who had the most victims, with no charges (insufficient evidence). In 2019, the “Citizens’ Meeting in Support of Nowon School Me Too” complained to the prosecution, held a signature campaign, and held a one-person protest in front of the prosecutors’ office. In May 2020, after two years after window me-too, the teacher was prosecuted, and the victims had to suffer for three years until the sentence.

It is said that the second offense at school after Me Too was unspeakable. At the time, the current student A said at the’School Me Too Movement’s Tasks and Prospects’ forum in June 2018, “The teacher who returned after receiving an investigation told the students that he would find the person who pointed to him. Even now, the students are not protected.” This attempt to find victims was not the only secondary damage. It is said that there were many teachers who considered the school image and the right to defend the abused teacher before the students’ pain.

“When Me Too began, I heard a teacher say,’It’s not like a family eating together.’ Even though I knew that was wrong, I felt resentful for myself to stay still because of being a student… (After Me Too) As time passed and everyone was getting tired, we were divided. Many of my friends have changed, asking if I want the teachers to be excluded from class… I cried a lot, thinking about giving up.” (Remarks from Mr. B, a student at Yonghwa Girls’ High School in June 2018)

The students were plagued by fears that they would not be protected from school and the false views around them that they had undermined the school’s honor. Weary students began to feel burdened with public debate on this issue. Among the students, voting for and against public debate took place. ‘Let’s not interview the media because the school image is deteriorating and misinformation occurs’,’The school does not protect us, so we must inform the outside as much as possible’. Opinions did not come together. After that, a time of silence came. The interest in the public, which had heated up, quickly faded.

There was also a second attack by Mr. A, the accused abuser. A also sent a text message to one of the five victims ahead of the prosecution in June 2020. The victim said she was shocked at the trial at the trial by knowing that she was the victim and sending a text message.

All of these fall under the secondary abuse referred to in the Framework Act on the Prevention of Violence Against Women. In the Framework Act on the Prevention of Violence Against Women, the right of victims to be protected from secondary damage was specified.

Why is there no school’protecting victims’?

After raising the issue of sexual harassment and sexual violence, secondary abuse by neighbors and perpetrators was widespread not only in cases of sexual violence in the workplace, but also in schools.

In particular, the secondary abuse of School Me Too, a victim of a teenager, was more severe under the name of school. Legitimate sexual harassment and sexual violence issues were devalued, saying, “I do not know the children” and “How do I believe what students say”. Ji-hye Yang, Secretary General of Youth Feminist Network Witty, said, “Even though many people at school sympathize with and testify of sexual harassment and sexual violence on campus, (Me Too parties) must experience isolation, discipline, and expulsion from a closed school, and it was considered a voiceless voice. Even though School Me Too was a nationally supported movement, Me Too parties had to feel isolated and alienated.” He said, “Because there is no position to protect the victims at school, there were cases where teachers were given a serial signature to support the teacher. “School Me Too’s second offense is happening more easily because the victim is a teenager or a student.”

Not long ago, the work of’School Me Too White Paper’, which records the three-year process from the beginning of Window Me Too to criminal punishment, began. Activist Choi Kyung-sook, who has been supporting Nowon School Me Too for three years from the beginning of the incident, decided to record the case of Yonghwa Girls’ High School, where School Me Too, a student rights movement, played a role in spreading nationwide. . Sexual violence by teachers has existed since the past, but it is still repeated, so it is of great significance to record the entire process of this incident.

“After the fact of the damage is known, I think that the long period of 3 years before the judicial action itself is the second offense. If the police and the Office of Education had properly responded after the incident, it would have been finished in 2018. What on earth did the victims think about the benefits of filing a complaint and led the trial like this for three years? I just wanted to stop the teacher’s behavior and end School Me Too.”

By Kim Mi-hyang, staff reporter [email protected]