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A teacher who spreads false rumors in the classroom

Posted May. 14, 2014 06:46,   

한국어

“(The U.S.) sent us submarines to take out dead bodies. Well, it already earned 950 billion won (about 929.5 million U.S. dollars). It was not for building the ferry Sewol. They came to Korea just because they were told to do so. Only two came, I mean the submarines, which are idling because they do not need to rescue. I think Korea is an idiot and is really bad at negotiations.” This is the collection of false rumors on an anti-American note and what a 29-year-old temporary biology teacher said in a class at a high school in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province on April 22.

It was a week after the ferry capsized and the country was busy rescuing the missing passengers. It is shocking to hear the recording that a student sent to a civic group. The teacher said that the U.S. brought two submarines for the Sewol disaster in return for 950 billion won (929.5 million dollars), implicitly referring to the passage of the Korea-U.S. cost-sharing bill in the National Assembly. It was a student who stopped the teacher.

The student who reported the voice recording also said, “She said, ‘The National Intelligence Service has already found dead bodies from the Sewol and is trying to tell a lie as if it found them later.’” As the intelligence agency sued her for defamation, prosecutors started a probe on Tuesday. The voice recording includes “If the government really hates to work, we need to get rid of it. It’s annoying...Fishing boats sensed that something was wrong with the ferry between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. Then, what happened at the time? “We`re living in a really weird country. On top of that, the media is also censored.”

Some media claims that the teacher’s telling rumors milling around on social networking sites is a “freedom of expression,” but it is like putting the cart before the horse. We need to think how such a person can teach students at a school while mulling over if screening process for temporary teachers is effective. It was a student’s smartphone that put a strain on her who delivered verbatim claims on social networking sites. It is the downside of the technologically-advanced era.

Editorial Writer Choi Yeong-hae (yhchoi65@donga.com)