By The Lee Myung-bak administration fresh off of arresting 273 members of the KTEWU for their political activities last month, are now moving forward with firing 134 more teachers:
About 130 unionized public school teachers accused of having illegally maintained membership in an opposition political party will face a mass dismissal early next month, officials at the education ministry said yesterday.
The ministry has decided that as of June 1, it will dismiss a total of 134 public school teachers affiliated with a liberal teachers union for having regularly paid membership fees to the progressive minor opposition Democratic Labor Party, said the officials.
The 134 teachers, all affiliated with the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union, were indicted for illegally belonging to the political party. South Korean law bars public workers, including teachers, from taking part in collective political activity.
The government Sunday announced a decision to take strong disciplinary measures against all of the 134 public school teachers, as well as against 83 lower-ranking civil servants and 35 private school teachers, who were also indicted for membership in the Democratic Labor Party.
The teachers and the civil servants were accused of having been Democratic Labor members or supporters since 2005.
It is the first time since the teachers’ union was founded in 1989 that more than 100 public school teachers face dismissals for political activities. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
At first glance you would think that it is a bit extreme to tell a teacher they cannot participate in political activities. However, the KTEWU is not any normal union. This group routinely indoctrinates students with pro-communist propaganda, spreads anti-government lies, and anti-Americanism in the classrooms of Korean schools. To further emphasize where the true loyalties of this organization lies, the political party they were caught giving money to, the DLP was linked to a North Korean spy scandal.
So considering the past activities of this teachers’ union, it is easy to understand why the Lee government is taking the measures they are.
1:44 am on May 27th, 2010 1
This is long overdue. The materials these kinds of teachers bring into the classroom is straight out of Pyongyang. They also pushed their students into the mad cow disease idiocy. I don't care which side of the political aisle teachers fall on, they can only do damage when they bring in this level of propaganda and ideology.
I look forward to seeing these 'teachers' hosed down by water cannons in their future protests once their asses are kicked out of the classroom.
7:04 am on May 27th, 2010 2
Sounds similar to when the Saudis got rid of all the clerics praising bin Ladin. There's a fine line between having radical opinions – which you're entitled to – and using your government job to spread it. In the Korean case, the law is to prevent those annoying teachers who patronize you on their extreme views. Which happens in ever country, but here we're talking NK style communism.
8:22 am on May 27th, 2010 3
now send them to the states to get rid of all the lefty loons teaching american kids!!!
9:34 am on May 27th, 2010 4
Suddenly a lot of things make more sense. Anyone else notice how KoreaTeacher suddenly has a lot of time on her leftist-marx loving hands? She got canned! Bwahahahahahaha. I also mistakenly thought she was running a sock pupet named Rei, but she was just being more honest, she is no longer teaching north Korean propaganda in schools, just on discussion boards.
2:26 pm on May 27th, 2010 5
4:30 pm on May 27th, 2010 6
I did not write that last post and I think it is pretty disgusting that someone made a fake post in my name. The Admin. should check the IP to see that I am right.
9:01 am on May 28th, 2010 7
Right…and why don't you make teaching bullshit like creative design compulsory while you're at it.
9:03 am on May 28th, 2010 8
Or, rather…Intelligent design. I think you can understand the Freudian slip.
9:45 am on May 28th, 2010 9
Social-Darwinism used to be part of evolutionary-science curricula and World War II was the result.
10:44 am on May 28th, 2010 10
Sooo, what about all the other wars before Social-Darwinism was taught in school?
2:27 pm on May 28th, 2010 11
Nazism WAS different! Not many leaders would slaughter loyal subjects because of their race. Of course, one of Hitler's hopes was to destroy the slavs the same way that America had destroyed the natives of their own country thus converting Russia into Germany's American-like frontier.
9:39 am on May 30th, 2010 12
Of course Rei, there are more native americans living tax free in the US today than in 1850, so I guess the US ran out of bullets. Don't let a book bite you in the ass you clown.
12:48 am on June 3rd, 2010 13
You already use two or more names how could a proven liar be taken seriously Rei..err KT? Bwahahahaha fool.
10:10 am on June 3rd, 2010 14
Since I refer to Korea teacher as “me” in response to YOUR post, no intelligent person could think that I was trying to deceive. You made that post didn’t you? Oh, and your name-calling only shows what a small-minded, petulant child you are
12:59 am on July 28th, 2010 15
Media bias in Korea is incredible. However, if you knew that other public school teachers who were members of right wing political parties were not fired/harassed/outed in public, how would you feel about that story and it's accuracy?
Very little of this information appears in English, so non-KOreans receive VERY filtered news.
After his election, Lee Myung Bak reinstituted press-censorship laws which had been lifted by his democratic predecessor. LMB is extremely intolerant of justified criticism and now use a compliant mainstream media to help them.