Jeonnam Provincial College President Suspended from Position... Allegations of Hiring Corruption

Jeonnam Province's Own Special Audit Uncovers
Allegations of Final Pass for Document Failures
Prosecutors Also Launch Investigation... Acting Officer System in Place

The president of Jeonnam Provincial University has been suspended from office due to allegations of hiring corruption, and the prosecution has launched an investigation.

According to Jeonnam Province on the 5th, a special audit was conducted from January 2022 to March of this year covering recruitment, performance evaluation, contracts, and overall service.

The audit revealed that President Jo Myung-rae, while serving as the head of the department in January last year, unfairly allowed a candidate who failed the document screening for a professional term appointment to pass the final selection.

In this process, the candidate who failed the document screening was allowed to take the interview without going through the Personnel Committee's deliberation and resolution, and preferential treatment was provided by favorably expanding and changing the passing conditions for this candidate.

Jeonnam Province also imposed severe disciplinary action on Professor A, a specific local government official, for failing to maintain confidentiality obligations. It was confirmed that Professor A illegally leaked confidential personnel committee deliberation materials (performance evaluations) by creating official documents and sharing them in a group chat with 34 members, and repeatedly demanded personnel information from the school.

Jeonnam Province held a special disciplinary committee meeting to suspend President Jo Myung-rae from his position and appointed Jang Heon-beom, the Planning and Coordination Office Director of Jeonnam Province, as acting president.

The disciplinary committee decided to postpone disciplinary action due to the ongoing investigation by the authorities. The level of disciplinary action against President Jo is expected to be determined in accordance with the timing of the prosecution's indictment decision.

With the president suspended, there is also interest in whether this will affect the ongoing integration work with the National Mokpo University. Mokpo University and Jeonnam Provincial University signed a business agreement in July to promote university integration and are currently working on practical tasks.

A Jeonnam Province official stated, "The acting president will first carefully review the school's situation and then proceed with important projects such as university integration."

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