Teachers across South Korea field martial law questions from kids

SEOUL - As political turmoil unraveled from the night of Dec 3 into the next morning, following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law, local teachers prepared for their students’ questions at school.

“My knowledge of martial law is limited, from some books and films. I felt I didn’t know it well enough to teach students about it. I did some quick research on the internet before going to work,” said elementary school teacher Kang, 31, who works in Suwon, Gyeonggi province.

On the morning of Dec 4, many teachers similarly flocked to online forums for educators for classroom materials on martial law. One such forum included Indi School, an online platform for elementary school teachers across the country, where users actively share educational materials.

For example, a 24-slide PowerPoint - titled Legal Procedures for Declaring Martial Law and the Importance of the Separation of Powers - introduced the necessity of power division and the definition of emergency martial law in South Korea.

“Students who watched related news on YouTube asked various questions about martial law. I have been teaching about martial law and democracy from my first class this morning,” the elementary school teacher told The Korea Herald.

Some schools ran separate educational programs on the crisis.

Mr Jung Dae-hun, a teacher at Hari Forest School, an alternative school in Hwasun, South Jeolla province, said he brought a copy of the Preamble to the Constitution of South Korea, along with newspapers, to his class to explain Mr Yoon’s declaration of martial law to his students.

“Some parents and students requested a brief Q&A session about the martial law declaration,” he said.

“Due to the influence of the media, students these days are very interested in what is happening in society. It seems that today’s incident has raised their awareness of the Constitution and democracy.” THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK