Cho Kuk's Family Steps Down from Ungdong Foundation ... Promise Fulfilled After Six Years

The mother of Cho Kuk, head of the Innovation Policy Research Institute of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, has stepped down from her position as chairperson of the Ungdong Foundation.

According to the Gyeongnam Office of Education on September 8, the Ungdong Foundation held a board meeting on September 5 and resolved to accept the resignations of Chairperson Park, Cho's mother, and Director Park, Cho's maternal uncle.

In addition, the foundation elected Lee Wanho, former principal of Ungdong Middle School, as the new chairperson and appointed one local figure, who is not related to Cho's family, as a new board member.

This comes six years after Cho Kuk pledged to return the Ungdong Foundation to society and for his family to resign from their positions.

Cho Kuk, head of the Innovation Policy Research Institute of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on September 1. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

In 2019, when Cho Kuk was a candidate for Minister of Justice, allegations arose that his family had participated in the management of the Ungdong Foundation for personal gain. In response, Cho promised to return the foundation to the state or a public interest foundation and for his mother to step down as chairperson.

However, only Cho's wife, Chung Kyungshim, former professor at Dongyang University, who had joined as a board member in September 2013, resigned in 2022. As the rest of the pledges remained unfulfilled, the National Assembly's Education Committee pointed this out during the audit of the Gyeongnam Office of Education last year.

The Gyeongnam Office of Education also recommended three times, from October 28 to November 8 last year, that the Ungdong Foundation submit a debt repayment plan and that Cho's relatives on the board step down from their positions.

Ungdong Middle School, Jinhae District, Changwon City, Gyeongnam Province. Yonhap News

In response, the Ungdong Foundation held an emergency board meeting on November 13 of that year, resolved to resign from the chairperson position after addressing the return to society and debt repayment issues, and prepared a written commitment to this effect.

The foundation submitted a debt repayment plan stating that it would repay a total of 9.1 billion won in debt to the provincial office of education over the next ten years, from 2025 to 2034, using income-generating assets.

The debt of the Ungdong Foundation is believed to have originated from the land purchase and construction costs incurred during the relocation and rebuilding of Ungdong Middle School from Macheon-dong to Doodong in the former Jinhae City in 1992.

With the resignation of the board members after six years, the board of the Ungdong Foundation now consists of eight members, with no relatives of Cho Kuk remaining.

The provincial office of education plans to discuss with representatives of the Ungdong Foundation the implementation of the existing written commitment, including land sales and debt repayment.

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