Police investigating teachers union over mass emails urging opposition to Japan's water release

▲ This image shows the emblem of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union. (Yonhap)

teachers union-Fukushima discharge

Police investigating teachers union over mass emails urging opposition to Japan's water release

SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) -- Police have launched an investigation into a teachers union for sending out mass emails to teachers in Seoul to call for their participation in a signature campaign against Japan's radioactive water release plan, officials said Wednesday.

The National Police Agency has recently assigned the case against the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union's Seoul branch to the Jongno Police Station for an investigation on suspected violations of the personal information protection law and the state public officials act, according to police officials.

Last month, the union's Seoul branch sent out mass emails to all 70,000 school teachers in Seoul, urging them to participate in a signature campaign opposing Japan's plan to release contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The union was later found to have illegally tapped into teacher email addresses stored in K-edufine, the official task management system for teachers.

The education ministry has since requested an investigation, accusing the union of using teachers' personal information for a purpose they have not agreed on. The ministry also accused the union of violating the state public officials act that requires teachers to remain politically neutral.

Police plan to look into who organized the signature campaign and for what purpose as well as whether there were any irregularities in collecting teachers' email addresses and sending them mass emails.

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