Top court says secret recordings of teachers inadmissible as evidence

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that audio recordings of schoolteachers made without their knowledge could not be admitted as evidence of abuse, overturning the rulings of lower courts.

The Supreme Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul [YONHAP]

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that audio recordings of schoolteachers made without their knowledge could not be admitted as evidence of abuse, overturning the rulings of lower courts.

The ruling concerns the case of a parent who filed a criminal complaint in 2018 alleging that their child’s third-grade homeroom teacher had committed child abuse by making derogatory remarks concerning the student’s academic abilities.

In their complaint, the parent said they were prompted to place an audio recorder in their child’s school bag after the child came home and told the parent that their teacher had questioned if they had properly completed the first and second grades.

The child in question had transferred to a new school for the third grade.

In the recording, the schoolteacher tells the student that they “appear not to have ever attended school before” and that they “perhaps only physically attended first and second grades without actually studying.”

Upon hearing the recording, the parent reported the schoolteacher for child abuse.

But the schoolteacher claimed that their remarks were intended to “tell the student off for distracting the class” and argued that the recording was inadmissible as evidence because it violated the Protection of Communications Secrets Act, which bars “the recording or listening to any conversation between others that are not made public.”

The Seoul Eastern District Court, which first heard the case, decided to count the parent’s recording as evidence and ruled against the teacher.

In its decision, the court noted that the “communication skills of third-grade students are limited” and said that “there are few appropriate ways of proving verbal abuse aside from recordings.”

The court also ruled that the teacher’s remarks “took place in a classroom with 30 students, and thus cannot be considered a non-public conversation” protected by the law.

But in its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court said the audio recording could not be admitted as evidence, noting that the schoolteacher’s remarks were made “in front of a specific group of students” and “cannot be considered a public conversation open to the general public” because of entry restrictions associated with school campuses and classrooms.

Audio recordings of conversations made without the knowledge of at least one party have rarely been admitted as evidence in Korean courts.

In its Thursday ruling, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the Seoul Eastern District Court, requiring it to revisit the case without considering the parent’s audio recording as evidence.

Conflict between teachers and parents has recently become a lightning rod for controversy.

In December, Seoul's education office concluded that a 28-year-old teacher took her own life in January last year due to depression brought on by severe bullying from parents.

The death of a 24-year-old teacher at Seo 2 Elementary School in July sparked nationwide protests by teachers demanding improvements in teacher's rights and protection against aggressive and overbearing parents.

In response to mounting public pressure, the National Assembly in September passed several reforms aimed at enhancing protection for teachers by preventing parents from alleging abuse when their child is subject to legitimate disciplinary action.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]