UPDATE: OhMyNews is on the story now. The paper goes into further detail about what took place—during an outdoor “hiking” class, the teacher, a Korean-American, was apparently pulling the bra straps of the girls, touching their necks, heads and shoulders (telling them he was knocking off bugs) and staring at certain parts of their bodies. Or so the girls claimed. An official from Seongnam English Town told OhMyNews that while the teacher has resigned, he is vigorously denying that he sexually harassed the girls. The official also said that during an investigation of the incident, a female native-speaker instructor who was with the teacher in question testified that no sexual harassment took place. Frankly, from the reports, I don’t know what to believe. My hunch—and this is only a hunch—is that there’s something funny going on with the girls (given how all nine are from the same elementary school). But like I said, I don’t know what to believe; I’m just reading the same reports as you.
ORIGINAL POST: I guess this was bound to happen sometime. The Segye Ilbo is reporting that a teacher at the Seongnam English Town has been accused of molesting young female students.
The “Seongnam English Town Sexual Abuse Countermeasures Committee,” composed of six Seongnam women’s groups and educational associations, claimed Wednesday that some sixth grade girls from an undisclosed Seongnam elementary school who were accepted into the village complained to their parents that one teacher, an ethnic Korean native speaker, was making excessive physical contact with them.
The girls claimed that during an outdoor class, the teacher pulled the strings of the girls’ underwear, put his hand inside their clothes and touched a certain part of their bodies.
Naturally enough, the parents complained to the English Town, demanding the teacher be sacked. The town authorities explained that the parents informed them that nine students had complained of inappropriate physical contact from one of their teachers. They also said the teacher in question took responsibility and voluntarily resigned on May 19.
Seongnam English Town employs some 40 instructors, including 24 native speakers and 12 Korean instructors.
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12 Comments
Sacked (only)? Surely child sexual molestation is a crime in Korea.
My thoughts exactly.
Robert, do you have a link to the article?
Why was it bound to happen? You mean at the English camp specifically or at any academic or summer camp type of setting? Just curious.
Lucky it wasnt a foreigner. If it was, I doubt the issue would end with the resignation of the culprit.
Dogbertt—Linked the article. My bad. Added an OhMyNews report, too, which gives a much better idea of what took place. Or at least what was said to have taken place.
Shenzhen Whitey—I meant more specifically with the English camps, because their new, have been getting a lot of press, and hire foreign instructors who, if they’re like the foreign instructors in the rest of the ESL industry in Korea, probably contain a few questionable elements.
shakuhachi—I take it you’ve never taught English in Korea. It’s only recently that I’ve been seeing reports of incidents like these leading to criminal charges. Regardless of the race of the culprit. Although given the fact that local groups in Seongnam have gone as far as to form a “countermeasures committee” over this incident, I’m kind of surprised charges haven’t been raised.
I would give the man the benefit of the doubt.
And as predicted in Cyberia, last week it is “Michelle Wie is Korean!”; this week accused kyopo Teacher B is an American, a foreigner. The hypocrisy is laughable.
“’shakuhachi—I take it you’ve never taught English in Korea. It’s only recently that I’ve been seeing reports of incidents like these leading to criminal charges. Regardless of the race of the culprit. Although given the fact that local groups in Seongnam have gone as far as to form a “countermeasures committee” over this incident, I’m kind of surprised charges haven’t been raised.”
Perceptive as always, Robert. I have never been an English teacher in Korea or anywhere else. What happens with incidents like these? In the west, I could even see parents taking the law into their own hands, considering the amount of children molestation hysteria in society (along with the endless rumors of ’satanic abuse’).
In Korea, the students flirt with teachers to get a better grade. Some parents even bribe the teachers. When the teacher fails to deliver straight A’s, boom! Instant Salem witch trial.
Checking out the OhMyNews article, it was interesting to note that one Korean netizen called out the dumbass who labled the suspect as some slimeball native speaker from Itaewon.
Just recognizing the various voices. Now, I’m off to have some 삼겹살.
I worked at a Korean girls’ middle school and I saw male teachers feeling the students up on the neck and shoulders several times. On one occassion that I can remember clearly, I was standing right in front of the “couple” staring. The student was clearly embarrassed, but the teacher wasn’t. (Incidently, this particular teacher was married and had a daughter himself.) I can only imagine what goes on when they think no one is watching. I had an exercise where I asked students what they would like to change about the school. Several responded, “I wish that teachers wouldn’t touch me.” At grade school, the teachers are gods, free to beat the students with sticks as they please. Girls get beaten a lot more than guys because the teachers don’t have to worry about girls fighting back. At a camp, the students are eager to turn the tables and make trouble for the teacher. This guy was apparently confused as to where he was.
kauffner, Why are we re-hashing this old story?
One Trackback
[...] Over at Daves ESL Cafe, the foreign coordinators of Seongnam English Town note that my original post (based on my initial reading of the Segye Ilbo report) was incorrect in two aspects: We are the foreign coordinators of Seongnam English Town and felt we should write and post our statement about the allegations of sexual harassment. Although the story on Marmot has been updated, the original version was incorrect in two aspects - firstly, the teacher allegedly touched their bra strings through their clothes, as well as their shoulders, neck, upper back. The teacher alleges he was brushing off bugs, the students allege it was sexually motivated. [...]