A teachers' group has called for punishment and countermeasures after a student at a middle school in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, assaulted a female teacher indiscriminately, leaving her with a serious injury requiring six weeks of treatment.
The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) and the Gyeonggi-do Federation of Teachers' Associations said in a statement on the 8th, "What is more troubling and worrisome is society and the government and political circles growing numb to teacher rights violations that occur almost every day."
The federation said, "We define this incident as a serious criminal act that goes beyond a simple deviation and shakes the foundation of public education in Korea, and we cannot contain our deep anger and devastation," adding, "How can we lead good education and education reform when teachers are being beaten and assaulted."
It added, "We define this incident as a serious criminal act that goes beyond a simple deviation and shakes the foundation of public education in Korea, and we cannot contain our deep anger and devastation."
According to the data "Education activity violations and teacher protection seen through data," there were 675 cases of education activity violations against teachers in 2024 and 389 cases in the first semester of 2025. On a class-day basis, that amounts to an average of 3.5 to 4.1 cases per day.
The federation stressed, "Students' right to learn can never be guaranteed in classrooms where teachers are not safe," adding, "There are limits to the piecemeal prescriptions rolled out every time an incident occurs."
It added, "The government and the National Assembly must not forget that restoring teacher authority is the basic premise for normalizing public education, and must immediately put in place strong legal measures, including recording major teacher rights violations in students' records."