Seol Jeong elected to head Jogye Order
By Yun suh-young Venerable Seol Jeong / YonhapVenerable Seol Jeong, 75, was elected as the 35th executive chief of the Korean Buddhist Jogye Order, Thursday.Ven. Seol received 234 votes out of 319 in the election held Thursday at the Korea Buddhist History and Culture Commemoration Hall in Jongno-gu, Seoul. He will lead the order for the next four years.His rival Soo Bul earned 82 votes, while three votes were annulled.Initially four candidates were registered to run for the position. However, Won Hak and Hye Chong withdrew their candidacies midway through the election campaign.Seol, who received support from the current executive chief of the order Ja Seung, has overcome a rocky road to success. During the election process, he admitted to forging his diploma which he claimed he received from Seoul National University. Some had called for his withdrawal from the candidacy considering this violation.If approved by the Council of Elders next week, Seol Jeong will begin his tenure starting Oct. 31. He has a handful of issues to resolve during his tenure, such as the internal confli
Oct 12, 2017
