Enlarge Image
▲ Mr. Park Mo (50), a 'feeding terrorism teacher' who attends the police
A former teacher has been sentenced to death for allegedly injuring children by putting foreign objects in kindergarten meals.
Prosecutors sought 10 years in prison for former kindergarten teacher Park Mo (50) in a decision trial held yesterday afternoon (10th) at the hearing of Judge Yoon Ji-sook, the 5th detective of the Seoul Southern District Court alone.
He also requested completion of a child abuse treatment program and an order to restrict employment at child-related institutions for 10 years.
In November 2020, while working at a Korean public kindergarten in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, Park was arrested and indicted in July of the following year on charges of pouring an unknown liquid into a coffee cup for a colleague's teacher through children's meals (attempted to cause special injury, etc.).
According to the police and parents, suspicious things followed, such as the teacher's thermos bottle disappearing at the kindergarten at the time.
When the kindergarten side checked the CCTV video, it was captured that Mr. Park was carrying a plastic potion bottle and spraying liquid on meals, water, and snacks.
During the police investigation, Mr. Park claimed that the liquid was plain water.
However, as a result of analysis by the National Institute of Scientific Investigation, harmful ingredients such as mosquito repellents and surfactants used in cosmetics were detected in several containers of Mr. Park confiscated by the police at the scene.
Enlarge Image
▲ Press conference calling for strict punishment for school lunch terrorism teachers
Parents protested that 17 children who were believed to have eaten the meal in question complained of vomiting and abdominal pain.
When the blood and urine of the actual children were tested, the level of immunoglobulin (lge) in the blood, which is caused by a harmful antigen reaction, was detected from 2 to 14 times higher than that of normal people.
Immediately after being handed over to trial, Park was dismissed by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.
In the final argument, he denied the charges again, saying, "As a teacher and as a mother, I have not sworn to do anything harmful."
However, the prosecution said, "We took into consideration the fact that he denied the crime itself and did not seriously reflect on it, that he had neglected his child protection duty as a kindergarten teacher, and that there were many victims and that he was demanding severe punishment."
The sentencing date is 2 p.m. on the 2nd of the following month.
▶ [20.12.01 8 News] "Something went wrong with the school lunch"...
Kindergarten teacher's suspicious behavior
▶ [20.12.08] [Video] "I didn't put anything" Teacher who put 'foreign substance' in kindergarten meal, police attendance
▶ [21.06.10] 'Insecticide meal' Kindergarten teacher arrested for 7 months...
"Concerned about running away"
(Photo = Yonhap News)