An assistant principal who repeatedly made sexually harassing remarks such as "office wife" to a female employee at the same school has lost his teaching job after being found guilty of insult.

According to a legal report on Nov. 7, Ms. A, an assistant principal of a junior high school in Busan, made remarks to other teachers in the Teacher's Office in November 2019 to the effect that Ms. B, a female employee, was "my office wife."

In addition, between June 11 and May 2019, Miss A made several inappropriate sexual comments to other male teachers in the presence of Miss B.

An impatient Mr. B accused Mr. A of insult, and the prosecution filed a summary complaint in November of the same year, pleading guilty to the insult charge only for the "office wife" remark.

When the court issued a summary order of a fine of 6 million won in January 2020, Mr. A disobeyed and requested a formal trial.

Appearing in court, Mr. A said: "The word 'office wife' was only used to mean an intimate female co-worker. I did not use it in a way that insulted Mr. B," he said, pleading not guilty.

However, in February last year, after more than a year of hearing, the first court found Mr. A guilty of insulting and sentenced him to a fine of 5 million won.

Mr. A disagreed and appealed, but the second trial made the same decision.

Nevertheless, Mr. A appealed again, and the case is currently being heard by the Supreme Court.

Separately, Victim B filed a lawsuit against Ms. A in 11 for damages of 2021 million won, and Judge Kim Do-gyun, Chief Judge of the Busan District Law Civil Division 1, who heard the case, ruled in favor of part of the plaintiff, saying, "Ms. A should pay 100 million won to Ms. B."

"Referring to Mr. B as 'office wife' created a situation that could be mistaken as if he was in an unjust relationship, and it is difficult to conclude that Mr. A, the teacher, did not recognize the meaning," the court said, and that "the context of the conversation using the word leaves a lot of room to suggest that he indirectly intended to sexually harass Mr. B."

However, as for the reason for calculating alimony for mental harm at a relatively low amount, he explained, "This incident resulted in significant sanctions, including the loss of his teaching position for more than 1 years, criminal penalties, and the fact that sexual harassment or harassment did not appear to have reached a very serious level."

(Photo = Yonhap News)