A court on Tuesday acquitted a local education chief of charges that he neglected his duty by not punishing unionized teachers as ordered by the central government.
Kim Sang-gon, a two-term education superintendent of Gyeonggi Province, near Seoul, was indicted in March on charges of malfeasance after he refused to take disciplinary actions against 14 teachers accused of issuing anti-government statements.
The education ministry had ordered punishment of the teachers on grounds that they violated the country's law requiring school teachers to remain politically neutral.
Kim argued that he wanted to protect the teachers' freedom of expression.
The case was cast in a larger conflict between the government and the liberal Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union, which has opposed the administration's competition-driven education policies.
The 60-year-old Kim, a former university professor with a record as a liberal activist, was re-elected to office in the June 2 local elections.