About 120,000 South Korean school teachers, clad in black, rallied outside the National Assembly in Yeouido on Monday afternoon, marking their discontent and demanding better protection amid rising concerns about their safety. Central to their protest was the tragic suicide of a 23-year-old teacher at Seo-i Elementary School, who faced intense harassment from her students’ parents.

The Child Welfare Act’s vagueness, the teachers assert, has ignited debate. Educators argue that the act encourages groundless child abuse allegations against them. These concerns were further accentuated when, in a short span, other educators also took their lives. The young teacher at Seo-i Elementary, who took her life in her classroom, had reportedly previously voiced her distress over alleged harassment from her students’ parents.