Kyungpook National University Excluded From '10 Seoul National Universities Initiative'... People Power Party's Lee Inseon Says "Political Decision Unacceptable"

Lee Inseon, a member of the People Power Party (representing Suseong District, Daegu), stated on September 1, 2026, "Kyungpook National University has been excluded from the Ministry of Education's list of '10 universities to foster like Seoul National University,'" and continued, "As a top-tier flagship national university in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, it is something we are extremely proud of, and upon learning of its omission, I honestly felt not just dismay, but outright anger."

Through a Facebook post on the same day, Lee commented, "Looking at the results of the previous Glocal University evaluations, Kyungpook National University received a grade of B, whereas Chonnam National University, newly selected for this project, received a C grade, and Chungnam National University received a D grade. This alone makes it hard to accept the outcome. More concerning is that, when selecting national flagship universities, the highest standards of expertise and objectivity in education and research must be applied. Yet, it is hard to believe that personnel from non-education ministries took the lead in this evaluation process."

Lee Inseon, Member of the People Power Party

Lee further stated, "This is a clear case of biased favoritism deeply entangled with political considerations, an obvious act of regional discrimination, and an unfair decision that undermines the competitiveness of local flagship universities and foments regional conflict in line with the government's interests and agenda. This cannot be tolerated."

Lee also emphasized, "The cause of balanced regional development should never result in further regional discrimination. The government must transparently release the composition of the evaluation committee, the details of the evaluation results, and the specific reasons why Kyungpook National University was excluded." Lee added, "In addition to thoroughly reviewing the entire evaluation process, I will personally verify how the enormous budget of 70 billion won is to be spent over the next six months, from start to finish."

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