Top Seoul educator loses job

Kwak No-hyun

Supreme Court upholds conviction on liberal administrator

Seoul’s top educator Kwak No-hyun was stripped of his post Thursday immediately after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction for bribery and a one-year jail sentence.

Seoul residents will vote to choose Kwak’s successor on Dec. 19, the same day as the presidential election.

The 58-year-old liberal superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) was indicted in September last year on charges of giving 200 million won ($179,000) to a rival liberal candidate in return for the latter’s withdrawal from the 2010 election for the post. Kwak won the election by a narrow margin.

Kwak denied the bribery charges, insisting that he provided the money months after the election to aid the rival candidate ― former professor of Seoul National University of Education Park Myoung-gee, who was suffering from financial difficulties.

“Such a money transfer between candidates is banned under the current Election Law, no matter whether it was made before or after the election,” the court said in a ruling.

Kwak, a former law professor, has filed a petition with the Constitutional Court to review whether the Election Law clause that defines giving money after the election as an act of bribery is constitutional. If the court rules it’s unconstitutional, Kwak can demand a retrial on the case, but that’s unlikely to happen.

With the top court’s ruling, Kwak’s key educational policies have been thrown into uncertainty. Some education officials are even calling for a revision of laws to abolish elections for regional education chiefs and instead allow the president or the education minister to appoint them. Kwak’s predecessor, Kong Jeong-taek, was also deprived of the post for his involvement in a bribery case.

Kwak has often clashed with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and conservative groups over his controversial policies. One of them is an ordinance enhancing students’ human rights.

It prohibits corporal punishment by teachers, allows pupils to hold assemblies and rallies at their schools and gives them freedom to choose their own hairstyle and clothing, among others. The ministry filed a petition with the Supreme Court to invalidate it after Kwak promulgated it early this year.

The SMOE said Vice Superintendent Lee Dae-yeong, an aide to Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, will serve as acting superintendent until Kwak’s successor is elected.

Kwak is expected to be jailed soon.

He spent four months in prison after being arrested in September last year, but was released following a district court ruling. He will have to serve the remaining eight months in prison.

He will also have to return 3.52 billion won he received from the National Election Commission after the 2010 election as a refund for campaign costs.

The Supreme Court also upheld the guilty verdict on Park confirming his one year and six months jail term and 200 million won fine. Kwak’s aide, who was fined 20 million won by a lower court early this year for delivering the money to Park, was cleared of the charge. <The Korea Times/Na Jeong-ju>

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