{"id":13161,"date":"2026-11-02T18:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T18:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=13161"},"modified":"2026-11-02T18:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T18:45:11","slug":"traditional-music-teachers-exploited-authority-to-sexually-abuse-students-court-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=13161","title":{"rendered":"Traditional music teachers exploited authority to sexually abuse students: Court records"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sex crimes in the traditional Korean music community persist, fueled by the enormous influence teachers wield over students\u2019 future careers and the close-knit, insular nature of the industry. Following the Hankook Ilbo\u2019s in-depth coverage of sexual exploitation in the traditional music scene, victims continued to come forward with accounts of widespread sexual harassment and assault. Court rulings also revealed disturbing details of the crimes.<\/p>\n

An analysis by the Hankook Ilbo of court rulings from 2010 to 2026 involving sexual offenses committed by traditional music instructors who abused their positions of authority over students found that seven of the 11 cases involved underage victims. In four of those cases, the victims were younger than 13. Cases involving adult victims also revealed how perpetrators exploited their control over students\u2019 future careers to subject them to repeated abuse. Even as they suffered, victims found it difficult to speak out, and some eventually left the traditional music community altogether.<\/p>\n

The crimes typically took place in lesson rooms or classrooms where students received instruction.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Lee, who taught pansori, a traditional Korean narrative singing genre, in Gangseo District, Seoul, sexually assaulted a 12-year-old student after the child briefly fell asleep on a mat in the practice room. When the student tried to get up, Lee offered to let the child rest on his arm but forcibly made the student lie beside him. He then wrapped both arms around the child, placed one leg over the student’s body and touched the child’s stomach.<\/p>\n

Lee also approached the student when the lesson ended and the child was preparing to go home, attempting to kiss the victim. On another occasion, he bit the student’s arm inside his car. He also told the child not to tell the parents about the sexual assaults. Lee was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, a term that was upheld.<\/p>\n

Underage students were particularly vulnerable because they did not always recognize inappropriate physical contact as misconduct, making them easier targets.<\/p>\n

Shin, an elementary school teacher who also supervised a traditional music club at his school in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, repeatedly told a 12-year-old student he taught the daegeum, a traditional bamboo flute, “I love you” in a school music room in 2023. He also made kissing noises and repeatedly stroked the student’s thighs.<\/p>\n

The victim told investigators, “At first, I just thought it was strange. But as time went on, I began wondering, ‘Isn’t this something a teacher shouldn’t do to a student?'”<\/p>\n

Shin was given a suspended prison sentence last year.<\/p>\n

“Some parents of female students deliberately seek out female teachers,” a person working in the traditional music industry told the Hankook Ilbo.<\/p>\n

Gaslighting students by holding their futures hostage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many perpetrators used lessons as a pretext to psychologically manipulate students and sexually exploit them.<\/p>\n

Moon, who taught the daegeum in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, in 2013, told a high school student in his practice room that “you need to know how to sleep with men to become more talented” and that “romantic relationships between teachers and students are commonplace.” He then engaged in sexual acts with the student, including intercourse.<\/p>\n

It took more than eight years for Moon to be sentenced. In 2021, he received a suspended prison sentence.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Lee, a former professor in the traditional Korean music department at a university in Gyeonggi Province, was given a suspended prison sentence for inappropriate physical contact with a 17-year-old student preparing for university entrance exams. Claiming that the student needed to “breathe from the abdomen,” Lee touched the victim’s stomach and hugged the student.<\/p>\n

Another traditional musician targeted an 11-year-old student, believing the child would be reluctant to leave him while preparing for admission to an arts middle school.<\/p>\n

Baek, who taught traditional Korean music in Incheon in 2020, sexually assaulted the student by demanding, “Give me a kiss,” and grabbing the back of the child’s head to prevent the victim from moving away.<\/p>\n

The following year, during a lesson, Baek asked the student, “Your father is in Cheonan. Could I date your mother for just a month without telling him?” He also showed the child photographs of women wearing bikinis.<\/p>\n

The victim’s mother was also targeted.<\/p>\n

At a dinner attended by Baek, his wife and the victim’s parents, Baek followed the mother to the restroom when she stepped away, hugged her and kissed her.<\/p>\n

The mother had previously been aware of Baek making inappropriate remarks to her and her child but had put up with his behavior because her child needed to prepare for entrance exams. After learning that her child had been sexually assaulted, she reported him to the police. Baek was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.<\/p>\n

Staying silent out of fear or leaving the industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Victims were afraid of the repercussions they might face if they reported the abuse.<\/p>\n

Yoo, a full-time piri instructor at a high school specializing in traditional Korean music in Seoul, sexually assaulted eight 15-year-old students, including by stroking their thighs. In one incident, he struck a student’s genital area with a car key while the student was lying on a desk.<\/p>\n

One victim told investigators why speaking out was difficult: “There are few people majoring in traditional Korean music, and graduates are closely connected through senior-junior relationships. I am afraid that if I tell the truth, Yoo’s classmates or seniors in the industry might retaliate against me.”<\/p>\n

Yoo initially received a suspended prison sentence at trial, but an appeals court overturned the ruling and sentenced him to one year and six months in prison.<\/p>\n

There were also cases in which victims actually suffered professional consequences after speaking up.<\/p>\n

Park, a holder of an intangible cultural heritage designation by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, sexually assaulted a student in 2017 after inviting the student, who dreamed of earning the same designation, to meet him separately following a reception with his students.<\/p>\n

Park and the victim had maintained a teacher-student relationship for 24 years. When the student raised concerns about the abuse, Park accused the victim of having lured him into it and trying to smear him to obtain the prestigious designation.<\/p>\n

Unable to endure the cold treatment and unfair treatment that followed, the victim eventually had to leave the training center where they had studied. Such centers preserve traditional performances of intangible cultural heritage and train the next generation of practitioners.<\/p>\n

Park received a suspended prison sentence and was subsequently stripped of his designation as a holder of intangible cultural heritage by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.<\/p>\n

Some victims abandoned the traditional music world altogether.<\/p>\n

A 12-year-old student who learned pansori from Choi, the head of a musical troupe in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, in 2012 eventually gave up studying traditional Korean music after the abuse escalated in severity and culminated in rape. Choi was sentenced to five years in prison, a term that was upheld.<\/p>\n

A female university student who attended middle and high schools specializing in traditional Korean music before majoring in the field said the industry continued to turn a blind eye to the seriousness of sexual violence and abuse of authority.<\/p>\n

“Despite how serious sexual violence and violence stemming from hierarchical relationships are in the traditional music community, people do not take these issues seriously,” she said. “I also developed trauma from prolonged verbal abuse and eventually quit traditional Korean music.”<\/p>\n

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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