2 KTU teachers disciplined for denying return to school

The North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education imposed heavy punishment of "one-month job suspension" to two full-time leaders of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union who declined to return to school. It is the first time that full-time KTU leaders have been disciplined for failing to return to school after the union was ruled illegal by court.

The provincial education office and the education foundation of private school ‘A’ held their disciplinary committees, respectively, on Friday, and handed one-month job suspension to two full-time KTU leaders (one public elementary school teachers, one private high school teacher) who failed to return to their schools from the union’s North Gyeongsang chapter. Disciplinary actions against civil servants include censure, pay cut, job suspension, demotion and dismissal, and job suspension or more severe punishment is considered heavy punishment.

The disciplinary actions have been taken after the Education Ministry ordered metropolitan and provincial education offices to exercise their right to dismiss those who failed to return to school, as about half of the 72 full-time leaders of KTU, which lost its status as legitimate labor union in court ruling in June this year, denied return to schools. It remains to be seen how the measure will affect disciplining of union leaders in other regions who failed to return to schools.