The board of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology on Friday failed to decide whether or not to oust its president Suh Nam-pyo from his post, despite increasing calls for him step down.

The 16-member board held a meeting on Friday in Seoul to discuss Suh’s future, but the meeting ended after less than 30 minutes without any decision.

Board chairman Oh Myung, however, noted that Suh had agreed with him to cooperate to end the on-going fight at the country’s top research university.

“(The president Suh) has agreed to hand over his authority to me and follow our board members’ decision,” Oh said. Suh made the promise after nearly two-hour separate meeting with the chairman prior to the board meeting, according to Oh. 

But the president’s legal agent noted that Suh would not step down immediately.

“What they’ve agreed today is to solve this problem through communication and compromise. And Suh made no promise to step down voluntarily,” his attorney, Lee Sung-hee saids.

Lee noted that both side will now have further discussion to decide about his remaining term, which is due until 2014, before the next board meeting.

The 77-year-old, former MIT professor first took the helm of KAIST in 2006 and secured his second four-year term in 2010.

He came under fire for a number of measures he introduced to reform the university, such as strengthening tenure requirements for professors and withdrawing tuition-free status from under-performing students.

Also, he has recently been engaged in a patent dispute with other professors at the KAIST. He rejected on Monday calls from the school’s board to resign voluntarily, demanding explanations why he should be fired.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)