Seo Hyung-won, President of Cheongam College, Says Some Media Reports "Are Not True"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Seo Hyung-won, president of Cheongam University, recently issued a press release actively refuting the content reported by some media outlets.

On the 29th, President Seo stated in the press release, “Media outlets A and B portrayed me as a president who filed numerous lawsuits against faculty and staff over trivial issues in their articles titled ‘Cheongam University President Files Mass Lawsuits Against Faculty and Staff for Work Interference’ published on the 26th.”

President Seo explained, “Last September, Media A repeatedly reported and spread on SNS baseless accusations and malicious interpretative articles about the chairman of the Cheongam Foundation, claiming he set a high salary through self-approval without signing an appointment contract.”

Regarding the ‘self-approval’ articles, he added that the Press Arbitration Commission decided in November last year that “Reporter Yang must apologize for the distorted reports and delete the related articles,” and he stated, “I am revealing the truth behind the work interference lawsuit because such situations must not be repeated.”

The background of the lawsuit explained by President Seo is as follows.

In January, the Gwangju High Court ruled that the dismissal of the president by the chairman of the Cheongam Foundation was illegal, and therefore, interference with the president’s duties should not be allowed.

This is a rebuttal article against maliciously biased reporting, issued as a press release by President Seo Hyung-won.

Accordingly, President Seo announced his return to work on the 20th of the same month and reported to work, but faculty and staff who received the chairman’s stance that “President Seo Hyung-won cannot return to duty” closed the president’s office and even blocked access rights (groupware ID) to the university’s intranet, a key work tool.

President Seo said, “Due to the continuation of such circumstances, I was forced to file a lawsuit against the chairman and the office manager. There is reasonable suspicion that the dean of academic affairs and the director of planning directly or indirectly participated in obstructing the president’s duties. I filed an additional lawsuit last April, believing that investigating them would more quickly and clearly reveal the conspiracy and execution of work interference.”

He continued, “Using the CCTV network intended for crime prevention to monitor faculty and staff movements is a serious violation of the law, and it is the president’s duty to request an investigation if such allegations are found,” adding, “I have requested an investigation into serious violations of information protection laws and human rights infringements within the university.”

He further pointed out, “The articles by Media A and B on the 26th, which ignored these truths, are intentional reports aimed at damaging the image of the plaintiff, President Seo of Cheongam University, who is the victim.”

Finally, he said, “I hope Media A keeps its promise made at the Press Arbitration Commission last November to apologize to me and refrain from biased reporting in the future,” and urged, “I hope they do not repeat the malicious reporting and dissemination as they did last year.”

The photo is from the end of the press release, showing President Seo urging Sisa 21 to apologize at the Press Arbitration Commission and to promise not to engage in biased reporting.

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