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Mar. 28  2024
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Illegal Strip Searches of KTU Teachers by Police

The incident of teachers being stripped searched, created a debate on whether a violation of human rights has occurred. Teachers of KTU were demonstrating in front of the government complex in Kwanghwamun on October 14, when they were hauled to the police station, upon where some were stripped and searched.

Source  :  Korea Human Rights News


The incident of teachers being stripped searched, created a debate on whether a violation of human rights has occurred. Teachers of KTU were demonstrating in front of the government complex in Kwanghwamun on October 14, when they were hauled to the police station, upon where some were stripped and searched.
KTB held a peaceful demonstration to demand the enforcement of collective agreement and normalization of public education. But police deemed the demonstration as illegal and arrested the participants. The teachers were taken to 16 various police stations. "We were taken to Joongbu police station, and pleaded our right to silence. Immediately they locked us up in jail and searched and ordered us to take our clothes off. In addition, we suffered punishment of repeated orders to sit and standup," confessed Park Jin-Young who was released on the 16th.
"The teachers were caught in the middle of an illegal act, so we have the right to search their body and to take them into custody in accordance with the 8th clause, concerning the detainment and handling of suspects," explained the police.
"Strip searching a person is legal in cases where the search is relevant to the crime. In this instance, they were not drug criminals but teachers who held a peaceful demonstration. Thus, we believe that the police intended to cause shame to the teachers while at the same time displaying a sense of power. This is illegal," said lawyer Im Young-Wha.
Clause 23 of the official judicial police code states that police should observe proper behavior when handling a suspect, while clause 31 states that a suspect in custody cannot have his/her human rights violated. "In other words, they are allowed to conduct strip searches, but not if it is not necessary. If they ignore human rights it is illegal," said lawyer Im emphatically.
The police lifted the teachers' fingerprints and took posed pictures of them. One of the teachers who protested the fingerprinting in Yongsan police station was put in handcuffs and taken away for further investigations.
The police handed out arrest warrants for Kim Eun-Hyung, head vice-chairperson and Cho Hee-Joo, chairperson of the Seoul district, and released the rest of the union members. Moreover, the police forbid further demonstrations from the KTU and cited the possibility of violence as the reason. [Lee Chang-Jo]
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