Conservative teachers, parents demand Kwak’s resignation, probe on allegations


Seoul educational superintendent Kwak No-hyun is engulfed in feuds with conservative teachers, workers and parents’ groups over his alleged censorship of criticism against him and his favor of progressive teachers and workers.

The conservatives have threatened to take legal steps against the Seoul education chief, who has just entered a fresh round in the legal battle over his corruption scandal.

On Tuesday morning, Lee Jeom-hee, union leader of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said he will file a complaint with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, claiming Kwak deliberately deleted his emails sent to all 3,000 SMOE workers.

Lee alleged that he sent an e-mail on Monday morning via the internal system, criticizing Kwak for promoting his close aides in SMOE. However, his emails failed to reach the intended receivers because the administrator abruptly intercepted and deleted them. Lee had previously been banned from sending emails through the intranet for three days in February.

The SMOE explained that Lee violated the rule against union leadership sending instigating emails to non-unionists through the company domain. 

“He had been warned several times before but ignored it. We had to take an emergency step (of intercepting and deleting his emails),” an official said.

Lee said censoring e-mails was aninfringement of his rights.

“We use e-mail to notify of weddings, funerals and other private issues. Criticism about the superintendent is just one of them,” he said.

The SMOE union said it will also request that a state audit body investigate Kwak’s influence peddling in SMOE affairs, including recruitment.

They were referring to a recent incident in which Kwak handpicked three teachers from private schools and hired them as public school teachers, citing his official authority to appoint educators in special cases. All three, however, turned out to be members of the progressive teachers’ body, the Korean Teachers & Education Workers’ Union, according to the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Association, the nation’s largest conservative teachers’ group.

The KFTA on Tuesday requested that the Board of Audit and Inspection investigate whether Kwak abused his authority of special case recruitment, claiming that he gave favors to the progressive teachers since KTEU has openly supported Kwak. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has recently ordered Kwak to recant the decision to recruit them, as well.

Kwak is also accused of dispatching eight KTEU member teachers to SMOE to work for him. Out of 15 new dispatched teachers, the majority are KTEU members, the conservative teachers’ group said. The conservatives expressed concern that the progressive teachers may seek to push their political ideas in educational matters.

Another accusation claims that Kwak recruited and promoted his secretaries in a apparent attempt to expand his influence in the organization.

“This could be a serious matter, threatening the political neutrality of future education,” Ahm Yang-ok, the head of the KFTA, said.

A group of conservative parents on Tuesday morning held a protest in front of Kwak’s residence in Hwagok-dong, western Seoul, asking for his resignation or the revision of his plans.

“We wanted to embarrass Kwak. He is ruining our education,” Lee Gyeong-ja, a member of the group told reporters.

Kwak is now also engaged in the second round of a legal battle over charges that he offered 200 million won ($173,900) to Park Myeong-ki, a rival candidate in the liberal field for superintendent in June 2010. Park claimed that he dropped out of the race because Kwak promised him financial compensation and seats on the SMOE for him and his colleagues.

“I will do my best and follow the court orders,” Kwak said Tuesday afternoon as he entered the Seoul High Court.

The first trial handed down a 30 million won fine on Kwak, but he will be able to keep his seat in office until the Supreme Court’s verdict is made. If he receives a fine of more than 1 million won, he will be forced to step down from his position.

The liberal field has set out to help the beleaguered superintendent. Hu Kwang-tae, chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, announced on Tuesday that the council would not request that SMOE present documents or data that could impose an extra workload on the office workers.

“It is a busy season and the workers should not be required to handle extra chores,” Hu said. But observers said his remarks are intended to ease Kwak’s tension.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon defended Kwak, too. The liberal mayor admitted to OhMyNews that he was aware of the pressure for Kwak’s resignation.

“But I say no. That will be against the will of people who voted for Kwak. We still have a lot to do together,” he said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)