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All stories are culled with consent from Korea JoongAng Daily’s website and edited by Groove Korea for length and clarity. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Groove Korea. — Ed. N A T i o N A l N E w swith May 2014 / www.koreajoongangdaily.com sTuDENTs proTEsT movE To boosT pArT-TimE TEAchErs S tudents at educational colleges nationwide boycotted classes and staged a rally in protest of the gov- ernment’s move to expand the num- ber of part-time teachers. A total of 5,900 university stu- dents participated in the demonstration, which took place across Seoul, Busan, Jeju, Gwangju and Sejong. The protest was spurred by the govern- ment’s decision to allow regular teachers, es- pecially female educators, to work part-time starting in September if they want to spend more time raising their children. The Ministry of Education said last month that the measure is intended to reduce the burden on workers and enhance welfare for female teachers, many of whom juggle child-rearing and school work. The National Union of Education University, the association that represents universities, said that the system would increase the num- ber of temporary part-time teachers. “If the government tries to hire new part-time teachers to fill vacant hours left by regular teachers, it will only result in more nonregular workers,” the association said in a statement, calling the system a sneaky way to inflate the employment rate. It went on to argue that the system would consequently reduce the recruitment of new teachers. Other educators noted that the gov- ernment was seeking to create a “job sharing” effect through the new policy. “If they introduce the flexible working-hour system, they will see one job split into two positions for two people,” said Kim Jin-cheol, the director of policy division at the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Association. “And the government claimed that they would fulfill a 70 percent employment rate. I think that the new system is part of the gov- ernment’s attempts to boost the employment rate,” Kim said. Protesters also pointed out that students will be negatively affected if some teachers come just two or three days a week. “The bur- den will be passed on to the students if some teachers only appear at work sporadically,” the association said. In response to the protest, the Ministry of Education said it will test-operate the flexi- ble working-hour system for one year, after which it will decide whether to formally adopt it. “We will discuss the issue one year after the test operation (begins). So we will exam- ine the results of the trial and discuss it again from the beginning,” it said in a statement. “We were only on the way to introducing the new system and hadn’t decided on specific details yet,” said an Education Ministry repre- sentative who wished to remain anonymous. “More importantly, the flexible-hour system has nothing to do with the policy on new re- cruits.” The education authority stated that it will crack down on university students involved in the illegal protest or those who incite their peers to attend. Although the ministry stressed that part- time teachers will be treated the same as regular teachers, educators who convert their full-time working hours into part-time will actually see their salary cut, the association claimed. “The system will breed a new class of teach- ers who are regular teachers on the surface but aren’t treated accordingly,” it added. plAsTic surGEoNs’ EThics quEsTio NED T he association of plastic surgeons has called for soul-searching in the industry and stricter ethical standards for doctors fol- lowing a case in which a 19-year-old woman lost brain function during an operation at Grand Plastic Surgery Clinic in southern Seoul. The woman’s parents said the clinic had per- formed the surgery without notifying them and put their daughter under general anesthe- sia despite the fact that rhinoplasty and dou- ble-eyelid procedures don’t typically require strong anesthetics. The 19-year-old is current- ly brain-dead. The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons revealed the results of an internal investiga- tion into whether other cosmetic clinics per- formed unethical operations. Lee Sang-mok, the president of the associa- tion who also led the probe, said that his team had discovered instances of ghost surgery among doctors, which is the practice of sub- stituting one surgeon for another without the patient’s knowledge. The association also acknowledged that some doctors would administer patients with large doses of sleeping pills in order to conceal the fact that a different surgeon was perform- ing the operation. The president attributed such cases to exces- sive competition in the industry and low moral standards among surgeons. “Plastic surgery requires a high level of ethics, as well as concentration and extensive medical knowledge,” Lee said. “But because cosmetic surgery has become so popular among many Koreans, surgery is now being considered a commodity that anyone can easily access. “This makes doctors look at their operations as a kind of product or commodity,” he added. The association said it ousted the president of Grand Plastic Surgery Clinic from its organ- ization and had urged the police to initiate a full investigation into instances of malpractice at the clinic. It said it will also define ghost surgery as il- legal and file complaints should they find any other cases. The president outlined a set of rules in an effort to elevate the ethical standards of cos- metic surgeons and prohibit malpractice or unethical operations from taking place. The association will also work on reducing the number of plastic surgery advertisements in subway stations. Some subway stations in Seoul — most notably the Apgujeong and Gangnam stations — are notorious for fea- turing a host of ads promoting plastic surgery clinics with striking before-and-after pictures. The case involving the 19-year-old was brought to the public’s attention after her par- ents staged a rally near the Grand Plastic Sur- gery Clinic. The woman went under the knife in Decem- ber shortly after taking her college entrance exam. www.groovekorea.com / May 2014 30