Netflix is about to ring the bell on one of its most talked-about Korean originals of the year. Teach You a Lesson (참교육), an action-packed school drama about a government task force that disciplines bullies the way bullies discipline their victims, premieres June 5, 2026 — and it has been generating buzz, and a fair amount of debate, long before its first episode drops.
A government task force with a license to discipline
The premise is pure superhero fantasy dressed in civil-servant clothing. In a near-future Korea where campus violence is rising and teachers’ authority is collapsing, the government passes a fictional Teacher Rights Protection Act and stands up a new agency: the Educational Rights Protection Agency (also styled the Teachers’ Rights Protection Bureau). Its officers are granted state-sanctioned immunity to use physical force and psychological pressure to dismantle school gangs, root out administrative corruption, and — as the trailer’s tagline puts it — “protect” the students and teachers everyone else has given up on.
If that sounds like vigilante justice with a badge, that’s exactly the tension the show is built on. The agents aren’t masked crusaders; they’re suit-wearing inspectors who walk into a school, identify the hierarchy, and break it apart with unconventional, frequently bruising methods.
Kim Mu-yeol leads a heavyweight lineup
Anchoring the series is Kim Mu-yeol as Na Hwa-jin, the Bureau’s frontline special agent — a man, as Netflix describes him, “not afraid of absurdity, fear, or compromise” as he tries to protect a fragile peace. Kim signed on citing his trust in director Hong Jong-chan, with whom he worked on the acclaimed 2022 legal drama Juvenile Justice.
He’s surrounded by a genuinely stacked cast. Veteran Lee Sung-min plays Choi Gang-seok, the Minister of Education who founds the agency (and also reunites with Hong after Juvenile Justice). Jin Ki-joo is Im Han-rim, a former special forces officer turned Bureau inspector, while Block B’s Pyo Ji-hoon (P.O) rounds out the team as Bong Geun-dae, a KAIST-educated assistant director. The Trauma Code actress Ha Young joins as Gang-seok’s daughter and Hwa-jin’s fiancée.
Video: Teach You a Lesson | Official Trailer | Netflix [ENG SUB] (Source: Netflix YouTube).
From viral webtoon to Netflix — and into controversy
The series adapts Get Schooled (참교육), the hugely popular Naver webtoon by Chae Yong-taek and Han Ga-ram. Behind the camera, Hong Jong-chan directs (Juvenile Justice, Her Private Life) from a script by Lee Nam-kyu (Daily Dose of Sunshine), Kim Da-hee, and Moon Jong-ho, with Ylab Plex and GTist producing under the working title True Lessons.
That source material is also why the project drew heat before a single frame aired. The webtoon has been criticized for appearing to endorse corporal punishment and for controversial depictions touching on racism and sexism. When Kim Nam-gil was reported in talks to lead back in late 2024, parts of his fanbase publicly objected; he clarified on Instagram that the project had merely been proposed to his agency and that he hadn’t reviewed or accepted it. Kim Mu-yeol was confirmed in the lead shortly after.
“When respect collapses in schools, unconventional inspectors arrive to set things right — with sharp, no-nonsense lessons you won’t find in textbooks.”
— Netflix logline for Teach You a Lesson
It’s a provocative concept by design, and reviewers are already split on whether the show interrogates its own premise or simply revels in it. Either way, in a country where teachers’ rights and school violence have been live national conversations, Teach You a Lesson arrives with real-world resonance baked in.
When and how to watch
Teach You a Lesson begins streaming worldwide on Netflix on June 5, 2026, rated TV-MA. With a webtoon fanbase, a director coming off Juvenile Justice, and a cast that pairs Kim Mu-yeol and Lee Sung-min, it’s shaping up to be one of June’s biggest Korean releases — and almost certainly one of its most debated. Set your reminders; class is about to be in session.
Sources: Netflix Tudum, Wikipedia, Soompi, Korea JoongAng Daily.
