The court saw the punishment as legitimate, saying Kim’s remarks amount to “an act that damages the dignity of a professor.” (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — A South Korean court has ruled that the dismissal of a university professor who made sexist remarks to his students, such as “getting married is getting a job,” was justified.
The Seoul Administrative Court said Sunday that it had ruled against a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against a teachers’ appeal committee by a former assistant professor at a women’s university in Seoul.
The professor in question was dismissed in June of last year after a Teachers’ Disciplinary Committee hearing at his university.
He was dismissed as what he said during the class or what he posted on Facebook amounted to sexual harassment.
In dissatisfaction, he requested an appeal review. But when it was not accepted, the professor then filed a suit.
The professor was known for his discriminatory remarks, such as “For a woman’s part, marriage is a job,” “Women’s universities should disappear,” and “Being tall as a woman is a disorder, could you even get married?”
Kim claimed that it was excessive to dismiss him just because of inappropriate remarks made during class or the contents of his postings on social media.
The court, however, saw the punishment as legitimate, saying Kim’s remarks amount to “an act that damages the dignity of a professor.”
The court explained that in the case of misogynistic and disparaging remarks, not only were they made regardless of the purpose and objectives of the lecture, but vulgar or provocative expressions were also employed.
It added that there is ample room to say that Kim’s feelings of internal hatred toward women, which are usually caused by sexist prejudice, amounted to slander and were denigrating, ridiculing and disparaging.
Kim’s various hateful and disparaging remarks are an act that causes mental and psychological pain to students and faculties of his university and unilaterally forces them to join such discrimination and prejudice, the court noted.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
