Cho Hee-yeon Appears at the Corruption Investigation Office... "Hiring Conducted Legally, Doubts on Corruption Investigation Office's Probe Initiation"

Seoul Superintendent of Education Cho Hee-yeon, who is suspected of unfair special recruitment of dismissed teachers, is appearing at the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Department in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province on the 27th. / Gwacheon - Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Cho Hee-yeon, the Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, who is accused of abusing his authority in the special hiring process of five dismissed teachers, appeared on the 27th at the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (PCC) for questioning as a suspect.

Before the investigation began, Superintendent Cho stood at the photo line set up in front of the PCC entrance and stated, "The special hiring was conducted lawfully."

Cho, who is under suspicion of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, as well as violation of the National Public Service Act, appeared at the PCC in the Government Complex Gwacheon at around 8:45 a.m. that day.

Before entering the building, Superintendent Cho stood at the photo line set up at the PCC entrance and expressed his position regarding the investigation.

He said, "The special hiring was conducted lawfully according to the procedures prescribed by law. Normally, legal advice is sought once, but we received it twice, and since there were no issues, the special hiring proceeded."

He added, "I still cannot understand why the Board of Audit and Inspection filed a complaint against me despite issuing a caution for procedural issues. I also have doubts about the PCC initiating the investigation."

Superintendent Cho is suspected of directing the review and promotion of a plan to specially hire five dismissed teachers as educational public officials in July and August 2018.

At that time, when he received opposing opinions from the person in charge, he instructed A, a member of the Superintendent's Secretariat, to proceed with the special hiring. A selected screening committee members, including lawyers he knew, deviating from the usual selection method, and the dismissed teachers recommended by Superintendent Cho were selected and specially hired in January of the following year.

However, among the five specially hired teachers, four were retired teachers affiliated with the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (JeonGyoJo) who had been prosecuted for violating the Public Official Election Act during the 2008 Seoul Metropolitan Superintendent of Education election, received a final guilty verdict from the Supreme Court, and were dismissed accordingly. The remaining one was also a teacher who was fined and dismissed for posting comments opposing a specific candidate during the 2002 presidential election. This sparked controversy over 'protecting a specific union.'

Earlier, the Board of Audit and Inspection confirmed these misconducts by Superintendent Cho through an audit, filed a complaint with the police for violation of the National Public Service Act, and provided related misconduct as reference materials for the PCC investigation. Subsequently, at the PCC's request, the police transferred the case to the PCC, which began a full-scale investigation on April 23 under the case number '2021 Gongje 1.' On May 12, the PCC additionally applied the charge of violating the National Public Service Act against Superintendent Cho.

The PCC Investigation Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Seong-moon) conducted a search and seizure on May 18 at the Superintendent's office on the 9th floor of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in Jongno-gu, Seoul, securing documents and computer data related to the teacher hiring process in 2018.

Since the PCC does not have the authority to indict Superintendent Cho, after completing the investigation, the PCC will send related documents and evidence to a prosecutor belonging to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which has jurisdiction, and the prosecution will make the final decision on whether to indict.

Superintendent Cho's side has strongly denied the allegations and argued that the PCC does not have investigative authority.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Cho became the first suspect to stand at the photo line since the PCC was launched. Recently, the PCC announced the Incident Public Relations Guidelines. The disclosure of Superintendent Cho's attendance schedule and the installation of the photo line were conducted based on these newly announced guidelines.

Article 18, Paragraph 1 of the PCC Incident Public Relations Guidelines generally prohibits the disclosure of attendance information of persons involved in cases. However, Paragraph 4 of the same article allows prior disclosure of attendance situations with the suspect's consent for important cases already widely known to the public through media reports.

Additionally, Article 19, Paragraph 1 of the guidelines allows the investigating prosecutor to restrict filming, broadcasting, and recording to protect the portrait rights of persons involved in ongoing investigations. Paragraph 2 of the same article permits prior consultation with the suspect or witness regarding attendance date, method, etc., for important cases expected to attract intense media coverage, and allows measures such as installing a photo line to prevent confusion and maintain order upon request by the suspect or witness.

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