"Demand for Disciplinary Action Against Education Officials Supporting Jo Hee-yeon Trial Statement"

Seoul Metropolitan Council People Power Party Floor Leader Group Issues Statement Supporting Former Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon's Trial, Visits Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to Protest Education Officials

Lee Seong-bae, the representative member of the People Power Party in the Seoul Metropolitan Council (People Power Party, Songpa 4), visited the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the morning of the 23rd at 11 a.m. to protest and urge a clear investigation and disciplinary action against the Seoul education superintendents who issued a political statement related to the Supreme Court ruling on former Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon.

At the meeting, the party leadership team including Representative Lee Seong-bae, Song Kyung-taek, Deputy Head of Communication and Cooperation, Kim Gyu-nam, Deputy Head of Planning, Hwang Cheol-gyu, Deputy Head of Political Affairs, and Lee Hyo-won, Deputy Head of Public Relations, participated. From the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Acting Superintendent Seol Se-hoon and Director of Education Policy Department Jo So-yeon attended.

The People Power Party leadership requested a report on the circumstances of the case, the Office of Education’s future response, and disciplinary measures regarding the collective statement issued by 157 education superintendents, including those in Seoul, in August prior to the Supreme Court ruling on former Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon. The Office of Education reported that “the statement was intended as a petition among colleagues and therefore it is difficult to view it as a violation of political neutrality obligations.”

Accordingly, although the Seoul Metropolitan Council passed a resolution at the 326th extraordinary session urging the suspension of education superintendents suspected of violating the Public Officials Act to ensure fairness in the superintendent election, the People Power Party leadership visited the Office of Education in protest due to delayed responses from the Office, aiming to secure election fairness through prompt handling of the matter as the election approached.

The issues pointed out during the protest visit and the Office of Education’s responses are as follows.

Among the 157 signatories of the statement, 68 are public officials of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. Despite the Office’s statement at the recent Education Committee meeting during the extraordinary session that appropriate measures would be taken against them, no report on future plans has been provided, which was criticized.

Regarding the Office’s report that the statement was circulated through links among acquaintances, the Office admitted that this was speculative information obtained by verbally asking some of the participating superintendents without a clear investigation to verify the facts.

When asked whether the statement was submitted to the court as a petition, as claimed by the participating superintendents, the Office replied that it would investigate this matter in the future.

In the current situation where the political neutrality of public officials guaranteed by the Constitution is being challenged, such as a Democratic Party member of the National Assembly proposing a bill encouraging teachers’ political participation, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s stance of judging disciplinary action only based on legal violations was criticized as neglecting or encouraging violations of political neutrality and dignity obligations of educational public officials if there is no legal violation.

Among the five teachers who were clearly judged to have been illegally hired as a result of the trial of former Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, three are still understood to be currently employed. A report on future measures regarding these individuals was requested.

The party leadership criticized, “The Office of Education repeatedly responds that it is undergoing external legal review without taking any special action against the intentionally politically biased collective behavior of the signatories, which appears to represent those superintendents.”

The leadership strongly requested a report by the 25th on future plans concerning the 68 Seoul education public officials who signed the statement and the three individuals involved in illegal hiring, and notified that if appropriate measures are not established, the Seoul Metropolitan Council will proceed with its own investigation and other procedures.

Representative Lee Seong-bae expressed concern, saying, “The Office of Education exists for our children. While children should establish and judge political standards on their own as they grow, it is deeply worrying that educators with political bias have been educating our children.”

He also pointed out, “The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education should have quickly grasped the circumstances and reported proactively on this matter, but instead, it is only representing their position with the excuse that it is processing according to procedures,” and emphasized, “The People Power Party in the Seoul Metropolitan Council will make every effort to establish the political neutrality obligation of educational public officials,” adding, “We await a wise response from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.