South Korea teachers fight for legal solution to tense classrooms

A teacher's death by suicide sparks reckoning over education

20231114 South Korea Teacher Rally

Teachers rally to demand the better protection of their rights near the National Assembly in Seoul on Sept. 16.  © AP

STEVEN BOROWIEC, Nikkei staff writer

SEOUL -- Teachers in South Korea are vowing to broaden a movement seeking stronger legal protections in what they describe as an increasingly tense school environment.

A key objective is revision of legislation that they say leaves them vulnerable to legal action by disgruntled parents. South Korea's Child Welfare Act has a clause that prohibits "emotional abuse against a child" that could damage their "mental health and development."

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