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Hagwon head found guilty of child abuse for threatening 7-year-old

Published: 25 May. 2025, 15:12

An image of a statue of Justitia, the goddess of justice [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

The head of a hagwon, or a private cram school, has been found guilty of child abuse for threatening to "ruin" a 7-year-old child's house when she said she wanted to quit.

The Busan District Court said Sunday that it sentenced the hagwon head to six months in prison with a two-year suspension for violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.

The perpetrator was brought to trial for emotionally abusing a 7-year-old student at the hagwon building and the cram school shuttle bus on the afternoon of June 3 last year.

The girl had told her mother that she wanted to quit her hagwon because she was "scared of it." The mother told the teacher that her daughter would be quitting due to scheduling conflicts with her English hagwon.

That same day, inside the shuttle bus, the hagwon head shouted multiple times at the student, saying, “You’re quitting the academy, so why did you take my book?”

Inside the hagwon building, the teacher again shouted at the child, saying, “Which English academy do you go to? I know where your house is, so tell me before I ruin everything.” The teacher then called the student’s English academy to check the schedule and later phoned the student’s parents to say, “The English academy schedule hasn’t changed.”

The person then shouted at the student, saying, “Your mom is lying,” raised a fist as if to hit the student, and when the student cried, said, “Cry all you want.”

“As the head of the academy, the defendant emotionally abused a child in their care in a way that could impact the child’s mental health and development," the court said.

The hagwon head deposited 1 million won ($731) with the court, but the family did not offer forgiveness, and the perpetrator “does not appear to have made a sincere effort to remedy the harm,” the ruling stated.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]