Education minister Lee Ju-ho has vowed to make schools safer and take steps to prevent a recurrence of last week’s tragedy in Daejeon, where an elementary school student was stabbed to death by her teacher. 

Lee made the pledge Monday during a meeting at the National Assembly between the government and the ruling camp on ways to improve school safety. 

Lee said “Ha-neul’s Law,” named after the deceased first grader, would enable the emergency removal from school grounds of any teacher who shows signs of violence. 

The envisioned law would also place teachers who are struggling with mental illness on leave of absence automatically.

In such cases, Lee said the government will support coordinated care with medical institutions and improve related steps so the teachers can come back to work after it is confirmed that they are mentally fit to do so.