Few teachers punished for sexual crimes.

In the spring we read about a teacher arrested for raping and molesting coworkers, and that he had seven previous convictions on his record because sentences of less than three years are removed from one's record after five. Two excerpts from the Korea Times today about other criminal teachers:

Teachers committing sexual crimes have been let off with just light punishments, Rep. Choi Young-hee of the Democratic Party said Thursday.

A total of 124 sexual crimes involving elementary and secondary school teachers were reported to the education authorities between 2006 and 2009. Among them, 47 involved prostitution, 43 were sexual harassment and five were rape cases.

However, only eight teachers (6 percent) were given prison sentences, while 31 were not indicted and 28 received suspended sentences.

``It seems that teachers were exempt from punishment through out-of-court settlements with the parents of the victims,'' Rep Choi said.

``Moreover, each city and provincial education offices, which were supposed to strictly punish those teachers, gave only verbal warnings. Only 21 teachers were fired for sexual violence.''

According to data collected by the lawmaker, nearly 60 percent of the assailants were merely warned or reprimanded.

. . .

A high school teacher in South Gyeongsang paid 100,000 won each to two minors for sex, but was only fined 3 million won and given a warning by the provincial office.

Another high school teacher in Seoul caressed the breasts of his female students while drunk and was at first fired by the city education office, but then given only a three-month job suspension when the Appeal Commission for Teachers reduced the punishment.

Alarming news, but for the sake of balance and context, remember this was written by Kang Shin-who, the worst English-language journalist in the country. Remember, too, that Choi Young-hee is a lawmaker leading the charge against native speaker English teachers:

Rep. Choi Young-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party submitted the bills obliging foreign English teachers to present criminal record and health check documents, including HIV-AIDS tests, before they are hired at public or private schools.

Under immigration regulations, applicants for an E-2 English teaching visa have been required to submit those documents since December 2007.

``E-2 visa holders, once caught for taking drugs or sexually harassing children, were often found to be rehired at another school or hagwon,'' said Yeo Jun-sung, an aide for Rep. Choi. ``The proposed bills are to remove these loopholes from the current immigration law.''

From the statement of purpose of a bill to the National Assembly submitted on June 9th:

English education is becoming more important, and parents increasingly prefer native English teachers for their children’s English education. At the same time, however, the crime rate among native English teachers is getting higher.

That quotation comes via Gusts of Popular Feeling's long look at these three bills, and Choi's facts were most recently questioned by the author in the Korea Herald.