[Debate] Do You Think This Former Judge Fined for Prostitution Should Continue Teaching at a Law School?

A professor at a prestigious law school in Seoul has been found to continue teaching even after being fined for prostitution.

According to legal circles on the 15th, a former judge in his 50s affiliated with a renowned private law institution was indicted for soliciting sexual services from a woman he met via a smartphone application in exchange for payment, a violation of the Act on the Punishment of Arrangement of Commerical Sex Acts.

Subsequently, the former judge received a summary order of a fine of approximately $2,700 at the end of January at the Seoul Central District Court. With no request for a formal trial, the fine was swiftly finalized.

Upon discovery of the ongoing police investigation into the former judge’s prostitution charges, the university convened a personnel committee and relieved him of his position last year.

The university stated, “After learning about the incident at the school last year, we suspended the professor’s lectures and disciplined him according to the procedure. We cannot specifically disclose the disciplinary action, but it was a more severe punishment than a mere pay reduction.”

The former judge’s lectures for the second semester of last year were suspended in the middle of the term. Students were informed that “the lecture became impossible due to unavoidable circumstances such as health.”

However, it has been reported that the former judge has resumed teaching duties in the current semester, starting this month and following the conclusion of the disciplinary period.

Therefore, it seems that there will be controversy over whether it is appropriate for a professor who is convicted of engaging in prostitution to teach and mentor students on a podium.