A stock photo of a classroom. (123rf) South Korea’s Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling that found a 58-year-old elementary school teacher guilty of child abuse for calling a student “a fraud.”The Supreme Court last month reversed and remanded a ruling by an appellate division of the Suwon District Court, which had sentenced the teacher to a fine for emotional abuse.The teacher reprimanded the student in June 2019 after the child allegedly lied repeatedly and protested loudly during class.According to the charges, the teacher told the student, “Why are you lying? Are you a fraud?” The teacher also told other students, “Don’t be a liar like that,” and added, “I can’t even look at you.”The teacher was also accused of writing a critical post about the student on a school app and scolding the child after the student’s father filed a complaint.The Supreme Court said parts of the teacher’s conduct were inappropriate, but did not amount to emotional abuse under the Child Welfare Act.“The child’s behavior, which prompted the remarks, can be seen as interfering with other students’ right to learn and the teacher’s right to teach,” the court said.“Considering the teacher’s attitude and the child’s temperament, the teacher’s conduct does not appear to have been intended to directly degrade the child.”The court said the remarks were made after the teacher lost control of her emotions while trying to teach the student that lying was wrong. It also said there was no evidence that the teacher’s conduct harmed the student’s mental health or emotional development.The Good Education Policy Forum, a group of 147 former and incumbent heads of schools and educational institutions, welcomed the decision as “a ruling based on common sense.” The group called for corresponding changes by the National Assembly, the Education Ministry, police and other agencies involved in child abuse investigations.