Monday, February 02, 2004
School rejects student over flag salute
A teenage student has been denied entrance to a high school north of Seoul after he told officials he would not be saluting the national flag as required.
The 16-year-old will not be allowed to attend the high school in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, due to his Jehovah's Witnesses religious convictions, which prevent him from paying respect to national symbols, said Sarangbang, a Seoul-based civic group for human rights.
The incident has unleashed a whirlwind of controversy over an individual's duty to follow national law versus the right to freedom of religion and expression.
Regional education authorities supported the high school's decision not to admit the student, saying they attached more emphasis to the school's discretionary power than to the boy's right to seek public education.
The controversy began in mid-December when the student, who is not named because he is a minor, applied to the high school for admittance in March. He graduates from middle school in about two weeks.
The student wrote the high school asking for its understanding of his religious beliefs, making it clear he would not participate in ceremonial rites to pay respect to national symbols, including saluting the flag.
Followers of his faith are driven by their stringent Christian principles and consider paying respect to national symbols a form of idolatry. Also, they refuse conscription as conscientious objectors, a criminal act in South Korea that carries a jail term of 18 months.
The high school rejected his application for admission, citing its internal admission guidelines, which can exclude applicants possessing ideologies or religions that run counter to the fundamental spirit of the state, society or school.
The boy's mother filed a complaint with the Gyeonggi branch of the Education Administration, which last month ruled in favor of the school, saying the right to select students belonged to the principal.
"The student is deemed to be lacking in his will to fulfill the school's due curriculum and regulations," the branch said.
The national code of conduct regarding national symbols, adopted in 1950, requires all government agencies, the military and schools to perform ceremonies of respect to the flag. Violating the regulation, which is a presidential ordinance, entails criminal punishment.
In wake of the education administration's ruling, which is based on a 1973 ruling by the Supreme Court in a similar case, the mother has withdrawn her petition from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and submitted an application to another high school in Pocheon, a neighboring town.
Still, the Gyeonggi chapter of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union and the religious group condemn the decision as a violation of the student's human rights.
"It is a student's right to study at stake," said Shim Woo-geun, a representative of the Gyeonggi chapter of the teachers' union. "The state is stripping the student of his right to seek public education with a school regulation that violates the spirit of the Constitution."
Said Kim In-hoe, a lawyer affiliated with Minbyeon, a reform-minded fraternal association, "The discretionary power to manage school affairs cannot seem to override an individual's right to religious freedom and public education."
The groups are not planning any legal action now that the parent has withdrawn her complaint.
(khjack@heraldm.com)
By Choe Yong-shik
source: The Korea Herald
A teenage student has been denied entrance to a high school north of Seoul after he told officials he would not be saluting the national flag as required.
The 16-year-old will not be allowed to attend the high school in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, due to his Jehovah's Witnesses religious convictions, which prevent him from paying respect to national symbols, said Sarangbang, a Seoul-based civic group for human rights.
The incident has unleashed a whirlwind of controversy over an individual's duty to follow national law versus the right to freedom of religion and expression.
Regional education authorities supported the high school's decision not to admit the student, saying they attached more emphasis to the school's discretionary power than to the boy's right to seek public education.
The controversy began in mid-December when the student, who is not named because he is a minor, applied to the high school for admittance in March. He graduates from middle school in about two weeks.
The student wrote the high school asking for its understanding of his religious beliefs, making it clear he would not participate in ceremonial rites to pay respect to national symbols, including saluting the flag.
Followers of his faith are driven by their stringent Christian principles and consider paying respect to national symbols a form of idolatry. Also, they refuse conscription as conscientious objectors, a criminal act in South Korea that carries a jail term of 18 months.
The high school rejected his application for admission, citing its internal admission guidelines, which can exclude applicants possessing ideologies or religions that run counter to the fundamental spirit of the state, society or school.
The boy's mother filed a complaint with the Gyeonggi branch of the Education Administration, which last month ruled in favor of the school, saying the right to select students belonged to the principal.
"The student is deemed to be lacking in his will to fulfill the school's due curriculum and regulations," the branch said.
The national code of conduct regarding national symbols, adopted in 1950, requires all government agencies, the military and schools to perform ceremonies of respect to the flag. Violating the regulation, which is a presidential ordinance, entails criminal punishment.
In wake of the education administration's ruling, which is based on a 1973 ruling by the Supreme Court in a similar case, the mother has withdrawn her petition from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and submitted an application to another high school in Pocheon, a neighboring town.
Still, the Gyeonggi chapter of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union and the religious group condemn the decision as a violation of the student's human rights.
"It is a student's right to study at stake," said Shim Woo-geun, a representative of the Gyeonggi chapter of the teachers' union. "The state is stripping the student of his right to seek public education with a school regulation that violates the spirit of the Constitution."
Said Kim In-hoe, a lawyer affiliated with Minbyeon, a reform-minded fraternal association, "The discretionary power to manage school affairs cannot seem to override an individual's right to religious freedom and public education."
The groups are not planning any legal action now that the parent has withdrawn her complaint.
(khjack@heraldm.com)
By Choe Yong-shik
source: The Korea Herald
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