In South Korea, outrage over student-teacher ‘romance’ forces K-drama off the air
The TV drama in which a teacher falls for her 12-year-old pupil was meant to arouse curiosity. Instead, it ignited a firestorm of criticism
The series – tentatively titled The Elementary School Student I Love – was to be based on a webtoon of the same name and had only just been announced in late June when it was met with immediate and overwhelming condemnation. Within days, educators, civic groups and ordinary viewers had united in calls for its cancellation, denouncing the premise as a dangerous romanticisation of abuse.
By July 4, production company Meta New Line had bowed to public pressure, saying in a statement it would “suspend the production and planning” of the drama, citing “changing social sensitivities”.
At the centre of the storm was a plot in which a woman in her twenties developed romantic feelings for one of her students – a storyline many critics likened to a glorification of grooming.
