The Gwangju metropolitan government is revoking the operating license of the welfare foundation Woosuk, which owns a notorious school for the hearing-impaired that was the setting of the movie "The Crucible." Inwha School has stirred up rage across the nation after the film revived a sexual abuse scandal there in 2001.

Gwangju Vice Mayor Song Gwi-geun on Tuesday said, "We decided to revoke the operating license after deeming that the foundation is unable to achieve its objectives." This is apparently the first time that the operating license of a welfare foundation has been revoked.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education plans to revoke the foundation's license to care for and educate disabled students, while Gwangsan District Office, which has direct jurisdiction over the school, will shut the facility, 11 years after teachers systematically abused vulnerable students there.

The foundation has been receiving W3-4 billion (US$1=W1,194) a year in government support. Disabled people under the care of the foundation and the school’s students will be moved to other facilities or placed in other schools this week. Woosuk, founded in 1955, houses and educates 131 disabled students at Inwha School and other facilities under its supervision.