Former national baseball team manager Ryu Joong-il filed a public petition, claiming his former daughter-in-law maintained an inappropriate relationship with a high school student she taught and asking for punishment. In protest of prosecutors' decision not to indict his former daughter-in-law on grounds of no suspicion, he even revealed his identity.
According to the National Assembly and others on the 4th, Ryu posted a message on the National Assembly's public consent petition board that read, "The informant in the case of a female teacher who had an inappropriate relationship with a student," and appealed for institutional reforms to prevent a recurrence of what he and his family went through.
Ryu said, "As a parent, I felt deep disappointment with the response of the judicial authorities and education administration during this case," adding, "There are circumstances that raise suspicion that the female teacher maintained an inappropriate relationship for a long period during the semester with a senior in high school at the time, and in the process it was even confirmed that my grandson accompanied them to a hotel."
Ryu's former daughter-in-law, former teacher A, 34, was accused by her ex-husband, Ryu, of engaging in sexual acts while staying at hotels in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon with B, a high school student at the school where she worked, from Aug. 2023 to Jan. 2024, and of taking her son, then an infant, to those locations.
Her ex-husband, Ryu, submitted as evidence closed-circuit (CC) TV footage from hotel lobbies and restaurants showing A and B hugging and kissing, multiple hotel booking records, records of costume purchases, and DNA analysis results from a private firm. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office issued a no-suspicion decision on the 14th of last month.
Prosecutors said there were circumstances to suspect a relationship but found it difficult to acknowledge that sexual acts occurred before September 2023, when B turned 18, and declined to indict due to insufficient evidence. They also declined to indict on the child abuse allegation regarding her son. Ryu filed an appeal with prosecutors the previous day.
Ryu's petition is seen as a protest against prosecutors' no-suspicion decision. He said, "Despite physical evidence and various circumstances from the scene, there was no active investigation," and argued, "The district office classified this as not abuse, and the high school also avoided involvement, saying, 'The school is not responsible.'"
Ryu also stressed, "The issues of (the teacher) sexualizing a student at the school where she was employed, exposing a young child to an inappropriate setting, and the school's poor oversight are problems that cannot remain unclarified or be swept under the rug."
He continued, "My (former) daughter-in-law is currently preparing to return to teaching, and the office of education also gave an opinion that there is no problem. The Child Welfare Act should be revised and investigative standards strengthened to protect students and children."