Tag: protests

The massive protests by Korean teachers has less to do with the recent teacher suicides and more to do with wanting to get the child abuse law changed. None of the teacher suicides has been linked to the child abuse law, but the activists are creating the impression the law caused the suicide to get it changed:

On Saturday, around 200,000 teachers from around the country gathered in Seoul’s Yeouido near the National Assembly to commemorate the recent deaths of teachers and to call for the better protection of their rights.

It is very rare for teachers to stage such a large rally on their own without the involvement of labor unions.

The Education Ministry maintains that any teacher taking a leave of absence to join the collective action will be dealt with sternly in accordance with the law and principles. 

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho on Sunday asked for teachers to refrain from taking a leave of absence to attend the planned mass rally while pledging to take measures to enhance their rights and authority in the classroom.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what is going on is that a change in the child abuse law caused any teacher accused of abuse to be suspended. This allowed parents that maybe do not like a teacher to claim abuse of their child to get the teacher suspended until cleared of the abuse allegations. Some of these suspension have lasted an entire year. This has caused teachers to not inflict discipline in classrooms because of fears of being accused of child abuse.

The Fukushima waste water issue is new anti-Japan issue the Korean left can demagogue for many more years bash Japan and Korean conservatives with because it is easy to demagogue. This is because most people don’t read up on what the radioactive waste water is which is harmless in the doses being discharged. Most people also don’t realize South Korea and other countries dump waste water from their nuclear plants into the ocean as well. If these leftists are so concerned about the environment how come they are not protesting outside South Korean nuclear plants?:

South Korea’s main opposition party warned it would take a series of actions condemning the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s policies on Japan as Tokyo began a phased release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant on Thursday afternoon.

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the head of the Democratic Party of Korea, said in an emergency meeting gathering all of the party’s lawmakers that Yoon, with his “leniency with Japan,” was “no less responsible for the destruction of our seas being undertaken by the Japanese government.”

“The Yoon administration practically acted as a spokesperson for Japan, even as it was going to pollute our waters with radioactive waste,” he said. “Our party will not stop fighting against Japan’s reckless acts of environmental destruction.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but t

It isn’t really surprising that some parents would abuse the changes made to the child abuse law to go after teachers:

It was the second weekly gathering of teachers and aspiring teachers, as the organizers seek to hold rallies regularly until early September, which will be 49 days after the death of the 23-year-old teacher who took her own life in an elementary school classroom in Seocho-gu, earlier in July. The rally last week saw some 5,000 participants.

Saturday’s rally indicated that parents’ abuse of the right to report a child abuse case against teachers has been obstructing teachers’ responsibility to manage their behavior and discipline them appropriately, as often teachers believe no actual child abuse was committed.

Once a teacher is accused of abusing a student in his or her classroom, the teacher is suspended and the rest of the child’s classmates and their parents face the change of the teacher into a substitute teacher, and the accused teacher cannot return until they are cleared of the abuse allegation.

“Consequently, the classroom (ecosystem) is imploding,” an unnamed teacher said before the protesters.

“We are seeing the children’s right to be protected being respected at all times, while teachers’ responsibility to teach children how to behave appropriately is being dwarfed by the law to prevent child abuse. This needs to improve.”

Also joining the rally was another unnamed teacher with over 20 years of work experience, who was acquitted of her child abuse allegation earlier in July after a year of litigation.

The teacher was accused of child abuse by the parent of a student who beat up their classmates. She had flipped a table to get students’ attention when a student was exerting violence, and tore into pieces what was supposed to be a letter of apology by the student as it contained no show of apology and the student told the teacher she should let go of it.

Wearing sunglasses, the teacher claimed that a teacher who tries to break up a fight between classmates faces allegations of physical abuse, and a teacher who yells at children who picked a fight will face allegations of emotional abuse.

“Is it normal to take our courage in both hands to teach what we are supposed to teach?” she said.

“I feel like I’m walking on thin ice every day. … The law to prevent child abuse should not be abused to allow parents to handcuff or threaten teachers.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but flipping a table may not be child abuse, but it does seem a bit unhinged on this teacher’s part.

I don’t think the KCTU is going to win any public sympathy by keeping people up all night with their protests:

A Cabinet meeting led by President Yoon Suk Yeol is held at the presidential office in Seoul on May 23, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol slammed a major labor group Tuesday for its overnight street rally last week, saying its actions infringed on people’s freedoms, disturbed the public order and will not be tolerated by the people.

Yoon made the remark during a Cabinet meeting, referring to a rally staged by the Korean Construction Workers’ Union in protest of the government’s labor policies from Tuesday to Wednesday.

An estimated 25,000 union members took part in the rally in downtown Seoul, causing massive traffic congestion and leading to some 80 noise complaints being filed with the police.

The union falls under the umbrella Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).

“Our Constitution guarantees the freedom of assembly and demonstration, and as president, I, too, have respected this,” Yoon said.

“However, guaranteeing the freedom of assembly and demonstration does not mean infringements on another person’s freedoms and basic rights, or acts disturbing the public order, are justified.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I don’t know enough about this act to determine whether it is good or bad, what I do know it has created great divisions within South Korea’s health care community:

Korean Licensed Practical Nurses Association (KLPNA) President Kwak Ji-yeon, front, is transferred to a hospital from the association’s sit-in protest tent in front of the National Assembly, ending a six-day hunger strike to protest the Nursing Act upon the persuasion of Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong, second from right, Sunday. Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare

Tension within the country’s medical community is growing as doctors, nursing assistants and various other medical workers announce a joint strike in protest of the recently passed Nursing Act, which they claim privileges nurses unfairly.

Starting Wednesday, a coalition of 13 medical workers’ organizations including the Korea Medical Association (KMA) and the Korean Licensed Practical Nurses Association (KLPNA), both in opposition to the Nursing Act legislation, have decided to go on strike, a KMA official told The Korea Times, Monday.

The coalition will also hold rallies on Tuesday in front of the National Assembly in Seoul and the Incheon office of Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), to condemn the DPK, which controls more than half of the 300-seat Assembly, for passing the bill. (…..)

The Nursing Act, which aims to improve nurses’ working conditions and clarify the scope of their duties independently from the existing Medical Services Act, has increased clashes within medical circles and among the rival parties regarding its legislation, which was passed at the National Assembly’s plenary session last Thursday.  (….)

However, the bill faced fierce opposition from other medical groups including doctors, nursing assistants and paramedics and the ruling People Power Party (PPP), claiming that it favors a certain professional group and will create new conflicts in the health care system.

The Nursing Act contains a provision that broadens the scope of nurses’ responsibilities from medical institutions to community and public health, in response to the ramifications of an aging population.

However, the doctors’ group is concerned that the legislation may enable nurses to intervene in the duties of other medical workers and give privileges to nurses over other medical professionals.

Nursing assistants also claimed they could suffer discrimination in recruitment if the new law comes into effect, as it will put the nursing assistants under the supervision of nurses.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.