Teacher Becomes Lawmaker's Aide While on Leave... Supreme Court: "Undermines Political Neutrality"

Appointed as an aide while retaining teacher status
"Incompatible positions"... ruling overturned and case remanded

The Supreme Court has ruled that a private school teacher working as a National Assembly member’s aide while on leave, while retaining teacher status, undermines the political neutrality of education.

According to legal sources on Nov. 1, the Supreme Court’s Third Division, with Justice Lee Sukyeon presiding, overturned a lower court ruling in favor of Jeon Gyeongwon, a private high school teacher who sued the secretary general of the National Assembly to overturn the decision to revoke his appointment. The court remanded the case to the Seoul High Court. “Being appointed as a National Assembly member’s aide while retaining teacher status means concurrently holding positions that are incompatible from the perspective of political neutrality,” the court said. It added that the lower court had erred in its interpretation of the relevant law by finding that this did not undermine the political neutrality of education.

The Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News

Jeon had been working as a private high school teacher when he took employment leave in 2020 and was appointed aide to then-lawmaker Kang Minjeong on June 24 that year. A National Assembly member’s aide is a special-service national government official equivalent to Grade 4 who supports the member’s legislative activities under the member’s direction and supervision. Unlike ordinary civil servants, aides are not subject to the National Public Service Act’s ban on political activities.

The issue came to light after the media reported that Jeon retained his teacher status. During the appointment process, Jeon had submitted a career certificate stating that he was a current teacher, but an employee of the National Assembly Secretariat rejected it. The Secretariat later asked Jeon to apply for permission to hold concurrent positions. The National Assembly speaker then revoked Jeon’s appointment effective Oct. 21 that year, saying that a teacher, who is obligated to remain politically neutral, could not retain both teacher status and the position of a National Assembly member’s aide. Jeon filed suit, arguing that “supporting a lawmaker’s legislative activities while on leave does not infringe on the political neutrality of education.”

The first-instance court dismissed Jeon’s claim. It found that appointing him as an aide did not itself constitute a political act prohibited under the National Public Service Act, but that the National Assembly Secretariat had appointed him without properly knowing that he was a current teacher and that there was a compelling public interest in protecting the political neutrality of education. The second-instance court, however, ruled in Jeon’s favor, saying that “it cannot be concluded that a teacher’s work as an aide while on leave substantially infringes on the political neutrality of education.” It also rejected the argument that the Secretariat had mistakenly understood Jeon’s teacher status.

The Supreme Court reached a different conclusion. It found that the law prohibiting political activities by private school teachers does not restrict only conduct during working hours or on school premises. In other words, the duty of political neutrality continues to apply as long as a teacher retains teacher status, even if they take leave and leave the school. The court also based its decision on the close connection between the work of a National Assembly member’s aide and political activities prohibited for teachers. “The duties of an aide are inseparable from political activities prohibited for private school teachers and conduct that constitutes political activity serving as grounds for dismissal,” the Supreme Court said. It added that “the duty of political neutrality required of private school teachers cannot be considered less stringent than that required of public school teachers.”

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