Ministry of Education Requests Mild Disciplinary Action for Seoul National University President Oh Se-jung Who Deferred 'Cho Kuk Sanction'

Statute of Limitations Passed for Disciplinary Requests Against Two Educators Including Cho Kuk
Ministry of Education "Notified to Take Follow-up Measures"

The trial of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and former Dongyang University professor Jung Kyung-shim, who were indicted on charges including admission bribery involving their children, was held on the 3rd. This is about five months after the trial was suspended due to the prosecution's request to disqualify the presiding judge. Former Minister Cho is heading to the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education has requested a minor disciplinary action against Seoul National University President Oh Se-jeong, who deferred the disciplinary action against former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk following the audit results of Seoul National University.

On the 4th, the Ministry of Education announced that it conducted a regular comprehensive audit from September 27 to October 13 last year and finalized the audit results reflecting the university's request for reconsideration.

President Oh did not proceed with disciplinary procedures despite being notified of criminal facts concerning two faculty members, including former Minister Cho, resulting in the expiration of the disciplinary statute of limitations. The Ministry of Education requested the university corporation to take minor disciplinary measures.

An official from the Ministry of Education stated, "For cases where the disciplinary statute of limitations remains, we notified the disciplinary committee to take follow-up measures to ensure the statute of limitations does not expire," adding, "The Ministry of Education can impose administrative sanctions if a university fails to comply with the audit."

Sejeong Oh, President of Seoul National University, is attending the National Assembly's education committee's audit on national university corporations including Seoul National University held at the National Assembly on the 14th, providing a work report. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Among the two individuals who deferred the disciplinary decision, one is former Minister Cho Kuk, and the other is former Blue House National Situation Room Chief Lee Jin-seok. Former Minister Cho was indicted on charges of bribery and abuse of power, while former Chief Lee was indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act related to allegations of interference in the Ulsan mayoral election.

As a national university corporation, Seoul National University’s board of directors decides on disciplinary actions when the Ministry of Education requests disciplinary measures against faculty members. This is the first time since the university’s corporatization in 2011 that the president of Seoul National University has been subject to a disciplinary request.

Previously, President Oh stated that there were limitations in proving the charges based solely on the indictment details notified by the prosecution and expressed his intention to wait until the first trial verdict is issued.

Additionally, the Ministry of Education demanded severe disciplinary action against one individual who arbitrarily used 20.9 million KRW of student researcher wages paid by the university’s industry-academic cooperation foundation and decided to file a complaint against the related research supervisor on charges including fraud. Regarding the case where official documents were fabricated as if false catalogs were issued and 9,555 published books with residual value were removed without authorization, the Ministry requested minor disciplinary actions for three individuals and warnings for another three.

The Ministry of Education requested personnel measures for 666 individuals, including one severe disciplinary action and three minor disciplinary actions, based on the audit results. It also requested 58 administrative measures (such as institutional warnings) and eight financial measures (recovering a total of 250 million KRW).

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