News of webtoon artist Joo Ho Min's lawsuit against a special education teacher at his son's elementary school has taken South Korea by storm, just a week after the controversial suicide of a young teacher at another elementary in Seocho-gu, Seoul. 

Joo Ho Min is best-known for his bestselling webtoon series, 'Along With The Gods'. Earlier this week, media outlets reported the story of a "famous webtoon artist" who is involved in a lawsuit against a special education teacher for accusations of abuse. Soon afterward, it was confirmed that Joo Ho Min was the webtoon artist involved in the news reports. 

Since then, various claims surrounding this incident have surfaced in the news and on online communities. According to a police report account filled out by the teacher facing the lawsuit, the timeline of events is as follows:

1. 2022.9.5 - Joo Ho Min's son 'A', a child with autism spectrum disorder, pulled his pants down in front of a female classmate, inflicting severe mental distress on the classmate. The school strongly considered launching a School Violence Committee for sexual harassment, but instead chose to resolve the issue without a committee in light of 'A's disability. 

2. 2022.9.8~9 - Per the request of the female student's parents, 'A' was pulled out of all regular classes and placed in special education class. 

3. 2022.9.13 - Joo Ho Min placed a voice recorder in 'A's bag to investigate his son's treatment in the special education class at school. In the voice recording, the special education teacher uses strong wording to prevent 'A' from attempting to leave the classroom in the middle of a class, chasing after the sound of other students gathering in the gymnasium. 

4. 2022.9.21 - Joo Ho Min reports the special education teacher to the police for abuse of a child with autism. 

(A part of Joo Ho Min's statement on Instagram.)

On July 27 KST, Joo Ho Min personally spoke up to address the issue on his Instagram. 

Joo Ho Min wrote, "In September of last year, my child was placed fully in special education class as a result of an incident caused by impulsive behavior. After that incident, my child demonstrated frequent unrest and anxiety and even refused to go to school. Being a second-grade elementary school student with autism, it was impossible to communicate clearly with the child, and there was no other way of obtaining accounts on the situation inside the special education class, so I had to confirm for myself. Upon listening to the voice recording, I received great shock at the strong wording from the teacher that could not be accepted as simple disciplining."

According to Joo Ho Min, he consulted five lawyers as well as the child abuse department at the Yongin Police Station and learned that a teacher could not be removed from their position unless a police investigation finds them guilty of child abuse. 

The webtoon artist added on, "I still feel deeply apologetic for my child's impulsive actions which affected his friends. In the case of the incident mentioned in the news articles, my family personally apologized to the family of the affected child, and we were fortunate enough to have the family accept our sincere apology."

He then emphasized that his son's "impulsive act" was "unrelated" to the abuse he suffered in his special education class, and concluded by stating, "Whether or not this teacher engaged in simple disciplining of my child, or they engaged in abuse against a child with a disability, is for the court to decide, so please wait for the results from court." 

According to media outlet reports, some parents from the elementary school recently submitted a petition to the police for leniency in the special education teacher's case, giving rise to rumors that Joo Ho Min's family delivered significant mental stress to the teachers at the elementary school as a result of his son's incident.