| Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, speaks during a press briefing in this Jan. 5 photo. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Seoul's education chief is facing calls for resignation following accusations of abusing his power in hiring teachers.
The calls come after the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) requested police to investigate Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), for violating the law on public servants.
Through a special hiring process in 2018, Cho ordered the reinstatement of five former teachers who had retired after being convicted of violating the Public Official Election Act, according to the BAI.
Four of them were former members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU), a liberal teachers' group, who were convicted of raising illegal funds during a 2008 election to choose a regional education chief. The other one was jailed for spreading false information about a candidate in the presidential election in 2002.
The five people helped Cho's election campaign in 2018. Cho was elected as the Seoul education chief in 2014, and re-elected in 2018.
According to the BAI, Cho pushed to re-hire them as teachers at the request of the KTU's Seoul branch, despite protests from SMOE officials in charge of personnel affairs. The five were appointed as teachers at middle and high schools in Seoul in January 2019.
The BAI said Cho decided to have them hired, infringing on the rights of other applicants to be hired. According to the law, those interfering with exams or the employment of public servants are subject to one year in jail or a 10 million won fine.
However, Cho has denied the allegations, saying, "The hiring process was carried out according to the laws and principles within the discretion of a superintendent."
"After fair screening by the judges, applicants with the highest scores were appointed among the various candidates," he said in a statement.
"I will ask the BAI for another review and will do my best to explain why I am not guilty," he said.
In response to Cho's explanation, three education-related civic groups held a joint press conference in front of the SMOE, Monday, saying Cho damaged the value of fairness through the special recruitment aimed at rewarding the five people for helping his election campaign.
"Cho, the head of the Seoul metropolitan office of education, damaged fairness and justice. He is unqualified to take responsibility for children's education so he should immediately resign," said Park So-young, the head of a civic group that led the press conference.
Shin Hyun-wook, policy director of the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations, said, "Although his corrupt practices during the hiring process were clearly revealed in the audit, Cho is consistently making excuses that he is without fault."