Jeong Seongguk: "'True Education' Craze Reflects Collapse of Public Education"... Supports Lowering Age of Criminal Responsibility for Juvenile Offenders

Forum on Improving Teacher Rights and the Juvenile Offender System

As the drama "True Education," which addresses the issues of school violence and the juvenile protection system, continues to draw public attention, a forum was held at the National Assembly to discuss legislative measures for protecting teachers' authority and improving the juvenile justice system.

On July 13, Jung Sungguk, a member of the Education Committee of the National Assembly from the People Power Party, hosted a forum titled "A Discussion on Teacher Authority and Reforms to the Juvenile Protection System Inspired by the Drama 'True Education'" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building. The event sought legislative alternatives to address increasingly sophisticated and violent school violence and juvenile crimes.

Jung Sungguk, a member of the Education Committee of the National Assembly from the People Power Party. Photo by Yonhap News

Participants at the forum unanimously agreed that the reality of "educational collapse" depicted in the drama can no longer be ignored. Although the so-called "Five Laws on Teachers' Rights" have been passed since the Seoi Elementary School incident, there remains a considerable gap between legislation and what is happening at schools. They stressed the need for mandatory reporting of malicious or false accusations against teachers by superintendents, mandatory records of serious violations of teacher authority in student records, immunity for teachers from child abuse reports when conducting legitimate educational activities, and lowering the minimum age for juvenile protection.

In the first keynote presentation, Professor Kim Gyutae of Keimyung University stated, "The drama 'True Education' reflects the real situation of teacher authority protection," and emphasized, "There is a need to establish a state responsibility-based system for protecting teacher authority, such as requiring records of serious violations in student records and granting immunity for teachers conducting legitimate educational activities from child abuse allegations."

Assemblyman Jung has consecutively proposed bills related to these issues. Most recently, he introduced an amendment to the Teacher Status Act to have the state or local education authorities act as the litigant when teachers face indiscriminate lawsuits or complaints in the course of legitimate disciplinary guidance.

In the second keynote presentation, Shin Hyejin, Chief Prosecutor at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, highlighted, "With both the severity and frequency of juvenile crimes on the rise, particularly among children aged 10 to 13, there is an urgent need for fundamental reforms to the system."

According to Chief Prosecutor Shin's presentation, the number of juvenile protection cases sent to the juvenile division in Korea surged from 8,615 in 2019 to 21,095 in 2025, an increase of about 2.5 times. Notably, among 3,411 cases of cyber sexual violence in recent years, 1,553 involved deepfake crimes, and teenagers accounted for as much as 61.8% of the offenders, indicating a severe escalation in new forms of violent cybercrime.

Chief Prosecutor Shin stressed that "there is a need to reconsider the minimum age of criminal responsibility and to incorporate juveniles who commit serious or repeat offenses into the criminal justice system through institutional reforms."

In closing, Assemblyman Jung remarked, "The phenomenon surrounding the drama 'True Education' is, paradoxically, a painful testament to the collapse of public education and our society. I will actively work to complete related legislation to restore teacher authority and protect the majority of well-meaning students from increasingly violent juvenile crime."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.