Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union
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The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU, ko, 전국교직원노동조합), also known as Jeon(-)gyojo ( ko, 전교조; acronym for ''KTU'' in Korean language) is a labor union of teachers in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
. The organization has 77,000 members (down from 94,000) among the 360,000 public and private school teachers in the country.


History

The KTU was founded in 1989 under opposition from the South Korean government. In response to its founding, several thousand members were subsequently fired by the education authorities. The KTU finally received official recognition in 1999 after the election of
Kim Dae-Jung Kim Dae-jung (; ; 6 January 192418 August 2009), was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He was a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his work for democracy and human ...
and many of the dismissed teachers were allowed to return to their former positions. A major contributor to the
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), literally translated as National Democratic Confederation of Trade Unions, also known as Minju-nochong ( ko, 민주노총; acronym for ''KCTU'' in Korean language) is a national trade union centr ...
, the KTU is criticized for promoting pro-
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
ideology as well as disseminating "
anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...
" propaganda. By 2009, the KTU's ranks had dwindled, possibly due to parental and public opposition to its non-education-related political activities. A series of scandals also deeply undermined the union's credibility, including the attempted cover-up of a sexual assault on one of its members, as well as the sexual harassment of trainee teachers by KTU members. In July 2009, the KTU's offices were raided by police on charges of issuing an anti-government statement allegedly in violation of the Civil Servants Law and the Educational Workers Labor Union Act, which bans political activities for teachers' unions on matters unrelated to working conditions. Union officials protested the investigation for being politically motivated. Per request by the KTU, the
Education International Education International (EI) is a global union federation (GUF) of teachers' trade unions consisting of 401 member organizations in 172 countries and territories that represents over 30 million education personnel from pre-school through universi ...
, a multinational federation of teachers' unions, protested the investigations in a formal letter. In April 2010,
New Right New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...
politician
Cho Jun-hyuk Cho Jun-hyuk (; born 14 July 1960) is a South Korean politician and an advocate of the South Korean New Right political movement. He is currently the head of the conservative teachers' union, Union of Education Movement for Liberal Democracy ( ...
revealed the list of teachers who are affiliated with the KTU. This has led to a series of court decisions against him. This has later backfired as the KTU sought to file compensations against him. In February 2011, the Seoul Metropolitan Education Board approved two KTU-affiliated school principals that caused controversies in their admission process. In May 2011, KTU sued Gyeonggi-do regional politician Bak Gwang-jin, for releasing a list of teachers affiliated with the KTU. On May 16, 2011, the head of a conservative parents' interest group ''Gyohakyeon'' (교육과 학교를 위한 학부모 연합) sent letters to approximately 60,000 KTU-affiliated teachers ''to resign their affiliation with KTU''. On December 9, 2011, the
Incheon District Court Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...
released an official statement that the decision made by the Superintendent of Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education to penalize KTU-affiliated teachers for donating "illegal" funding to the Democratic Labor Party is unconstitutional.


Oppositions

The South Korea
Parents' Association for Reviving Public Education
is a well-known opposition group against the KTU.


See also

* Education in South Korea *
Politics of South Korea The politics of the Republic of Korea take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is the head of state, and of a multi-party system. The government exercises executive power and ...


References


External links


KTU
(English)

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090522163656/http://english.eduhope.net/chamgyoyook.htm True Education {{DEFAULTSORT:Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union Trade unions in South Korea Education in South Korea Educational organizations based in South Korea Education trade unions Teaching in South Korea