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Committee's ruling that student had 'no clear intent to harm' when giving poisoned tangerine to teacher prompts backlash from educators

Published: 30 Oct. 2025, 21:39

Tangerines [JOONGANG ILBO]

A high school student in Daegu handed a teacher a tangerine laced with pesticide, but a teachers' rights committee ruled the act lacked intent to harm, prompting backlash from educators.

A female student gave the tangerine to a substitute teacher on Sept. 19, according to the Daegu Teachers’ Union on Thursday.

After eating the tangerine, the teacher learned via other students that the fruit had been sprayed with the insecticide “F-Killer” (translated). The teacher took an official leave of absence, citing an infringement of teaching rights, and did not return to school for several days.

The school filed a report for “interference with educational activity” with the committee, which held a meeting on Oct. 16 to examine the circumstances. The committee concluded that while the teacher suffered harm and the student undermined educational authority, the act lacked a clearly defined intent to harm.

The Daegu Teachers’ Union released a statement condemning the ruling, calling it “a serious infringement of authority involving a direct threat to the teacher's safety.”

The union said that no educator can accept the committee’s finding of “no clear intent to harm” and described the decision as “a dangerous minimization of the incident.”

The union urged the committee to fully review its standards for assessing intent and reinvestigate the case. The union also demanded that the committee strengthen its teacher safety protocols and revise policies to reflect feedback from actual teachers.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]