Gyeongnam Superintendent of Education Park Jong-hoon’s ‘Apology’ Met with Provincial Assembly’s Call for “Communication and Cooperation Together”

"After the first supplementary budget for the special education fund was made, I express my regret with an apology for having hurt feelings with unrefined expressions."

Gyeongnam Superintendent of Education Park Jong-hoon said this at the 1st plenary session of the 406th extraordinary meeting of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council held on the 11th.

Earlier, at the 405th regular meeting of the Provincial Council, when the entire 3.7 billion KRW supplementary budget for the Happy Education District and Happy Village School projects proposed by the Provincial Office of Education was cut, Superintendent Park publicly criticized the council at the Monday meetings of the Office of Education and the 1st anniversary press conference of his inauguration.

"More than 50% of the 400,000 students in the province enjoyed happiness through various play and experiences with village teachers, but the Provincial Council misinterpreted this due to factional and ideological issues, depriving children of happiness and encouraging private education," he said. "You should not take away children's happiness just because you don't like Park Jong-hoon."

In response, the Provincial Council expressed its intention to address this issue at the July extraordinary plenary session, stating that "Superintendent Park made remarks that belittled and disregarded the council."

Park Jong-hoon, Superintendent of Education of Gyeongnam Province, is apologizing for his remarks regarding the budget cut for the Happy Village School project at the 1st plenary session of the 406th extraordinary meeting of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council.
[Photo by Lee Se-ryeong]

Subsequently, Superintendent Park met with Kim Jin-bu, chairman of the Provincial Council, on the 6th to convey his position and apologized at the plenary session that day.

He said, "I believe that the depth of care for students is no different between the superintendent who prepares the budget and the council members who review and approve it."

He continued, "I recalled the image of my grandmother on winter nights in my childhood carefully tamping down the embers of the brazier fire by hand until dawn to keep the fire alive, and that is exactly how I feel as the superintendent now," adding, "I respect the authority of the Provincial Council and its legislative activities."

Chairman Kim of the Provincial Council said, "Our council and the executive branch are like two wheels of a cart leading local autonomy," and proposed, "With the Office of Education, sharing various intentions, we will lead the development of Gyeongnam through communication and cooperation for the residents."

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