A teacher suspected of abusing children at the National Assembly's day care center has been referred to prosecutors.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's women and juvenile crime investigation division said on the 19th that it referred the teacher, identified only as A, and one other teacher at the center to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the 13th on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes.
Police also referred the center's director to prosecutors under Article 74 of the Child Welfare Act, a joint penalty provision that allows a corporation or its representative to be punished when an employee commits abuse.
The teacher is suspected of abusing children at the center on Feb. 20, including pulling a child's hair to wake the child and throwing a child to the floor. Admission to the National Assembly day care center requires that at least one parent work at the National Assembly.
The Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station had earlier booked and investigated Teacher A, a former teacher at the center, on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Act. Under a policy that cases involving children aged 10 and under are handled directly by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the station transferred the case to the agency on Feb. 25. The National Assembly Secretariat removed Teacher A from duty after learning of the suspected abuse.