'Favoritism in Personnel Corruption' Jo Hee-yeon Superintendent Loses Position, Judiciary's Realization of Educational Justice 'Welcomed'

Spokesperson Kim Hye-ji's Commentary on Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon's Loss of Position Following Supreme Court Ruling
Seoul Metropolitan Council: "We Will Cooperate with the New Superintendent to Achieve Quality Public Education"

Seoul Metropolitan Council Main Building

Kim Hye-ji, spokesperson for the Seoul Metropolitan Council (People Power Party, Gangdong 1), on the 29th, evaluated the Supreme Court's ruling that Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education lost his position as the judiciary's realization of educational justice.

The Seoul Metropolitan Council welcomed the judiciary's fair judgment against Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, who repeatedly engaged in unfair preferential hiring, and expressed its willingness to actively cooperate to ensure that high-quality education in Seoul is provided without interruption even in the absence of the head of Seoul education.

Spokesperson Kim said, “Former Superintendent Cho was confirmed by the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit, the Corruption Investigation Office's investigation, and the court's judgment to have given preferential treatment to dismissed teachers from the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) in the hiring of national public servant teachers, where fairness should be the foremost value. He must sincerely apologize to the citizens of Seoul for causing the October 16 by-election.”

In 2018, former Superintendent Cho, in collusion with his chief secretary at the time, ignored opposition from internal staff including the deputy superintendent, abused his personnel authority, and unjustly hired dismissed teachers from the KTU as public school teachers through a special recruitment process disguised as an open competitive exam.

He was indicted on charges including violation of the National Public Service Act and received suspended prison sentences in both the first and second trials. On this day, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling, resulting in his automatic retirement from the superintendent position. Among the preferentially hired teachers, one was revealed to have unified candidacy with former Superintendent Cho during the superintendent election process, drawing fierce criticism both inside and outside the education office.

Spokesperson Kim also stated, “Deputy Superintendent Seol Se-hoon, who is acting superintendent until October 16, must flawlessly handle urgent tasks such as student safety, ensuring basic academic skills, and establishing care services without any disruption.” She urged, “The education office should cooperate with the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission to prepare well for the election so that a superintendent reflecting the will of the citizens can be elected.”

Spokesperson Kim added, “The merits and demerits of the past 10 years of Seoul education led by former Superintendent Cho will be evaluated by students, parents, and teachers together with the citizens,” and said, “The Seoul Metropolitan Council will cooperate with the new superintendent to enhance the quality of public education so that Seoul education becomes helpful to students and parents and a pleasant workplace for staff.”

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