Seoul Metropolitan Council, Reasons Behind the Conflict with Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon?

Kim Jong-gil, Spokesperson for the People Power Party in the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Comments: "Is Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon Trying to Stage Another Political Spectacle?"

He expressed hope that attention would be focused on the supplementary budget proposal to support Seoul students.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, stated in the press release of the 319th regular session of the Seoul Metropolitan Council plenary session on the 12th, "It is true that there are concerns about side effects such as ranking between schools if basic academic achievement scores are disclosed." He also said, "If the ordinance to abolish the Ecological Transition Education Activation and Support is passed, it is highly likely to be criticized for going against the urgent tasks of humanity in the era of the climate crisis."

This material was reported in advance, causing a disruption in the Seoul Metropolitan Council (Chairman Kim Hyun-gi) regular session.

In response, Kim Jong-gil, spokesperson for the People Power Party in the Seoul Metropolitan Council (photo), issued a rebuttal statement.

Spokesperson Kim first addressed the basic academic achievement support ordinance among the superintendent’s remarks.

Currently, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the Council are parties to a legal dispute. The Office of Education has filed a lawsuit regarding the validity of the Basic Academic Achievement Guarantee Ordinance, which is pending at the Supreme Court.

Is it appropriate to mention an ongoing legal case in the Council’s policy speech?

Moreover, today’s session is the opening of the first regular meeting of the Seoul Metropolitan Council in 2023, convened to deliberate and decide on 215 agenda items including the 2022 settlement of accounts and the 2023 supplementary budget proposal.

Nevertheless, the superintendent intends to use this platform to present the unilateral position of the Office of Education on a matter under legal dispute.

It is common sense to speak about the subject at hand during class time. Yet, the superintendent plans to speak about unrelated matters during the policy speech on the supplementary budget. This challenges common sense and insults the Council, the representative body of 10 million citizens. This cannot be tolerated.

Furthermore, a related press release was distributed even before the speech began. The Office of Education is attempting to use the Council’s plenary chamber as if it were a court for a public opinion trial to push their claims.

Next, I will address Superintendent Cho’s claim regarding the push to abolish the Ecological Transition Support Ordinance.

If the Office of Education disagrees with this abolition ordinance, it can clearly express opposition during the standing committee review process. If the ordinance passes, legal procedures may follow.

However, Superintendent Cho used the supplementary budget speech as an opportunity to demand that the ordinance not be submitted. Where else can such an unreasonable act be found? Whether to submit the ordinance is a matter for the Council’s judgment.

Is the supplementary budget speech the place to express the Office of Education’s position on a specific ordinance unrelated to the supplementary budget? Why talk about a math test during Korean language class? The superintendent should be ashamed in front of the students.

This is an act of disregarding the Council’s autonomy and the legislative rights of its members. We demand an apology for this anti-Council outrage that insists on blocking the submission of an ordinance simply because it is disliked.

The People Power Party’s floor leadership in the Seoul Metropolitan Council was aware of the press release content and requested that the superintendent focus on explaining the "2023 2nd Supplementary Budget for the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Special Account," but this was refused.

Also, after the Democratic Party floor leader requested a recess during today’s plenary session, the superintendent was repeatedly asked to refrain from speaking on matters unrelated to the supplementary budget submission, but this was also rejected.

This is evidence that the superintendent, who should be working to support Seoul students and schools, is deliberately sowing division and conflict, even engaging in politics for the sake of political strife.

The People Power Party will not provide a stage for the superintendent, who is obligated to explain the supplementary budget, to ignore this duty and focus solely on self-defense and complaints.

The People Power Party will respond sternly until the demands for a policy speech that serves the citizens are reflected, in order to uphold the authority of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, the representative body of 10 million citizens.

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