Chung-Ang University in turmoil

By Jung Min-ho

Chung-Ang University is under mounting public criticism following a series of allegations that key aides of incumbent and former presidents, as well as Doosan executives, have exerted influence over the school’s policies.

And the shadow of political turmoil still hangs over the school. On Monday, it was revealed that Lee Myung-jae, a special advisor to President Park Geun-hye and former prosecutor-general, worked as a non-executive director of Chung-Ang until recently.

Speaking to reporters, presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook admitted that Lee kept the director post at Chung-Ang even after he became a presidential advisor for civil affairs on Jan. 23. A school official said he offered to resign on March 18.

A group of Chung-Ang professors issued a statement Monday calling on everyone involved in the corruption scandals to resign.

“The scandals could ruin what they achieved at Chung-Ang for many years,” the statement reads. “The biggest problem lies in a distorted management system, which allows powerful figures to use this school for their own interests.”

Many doubt that Lee, who also worked as a non-executive director of Doosan Infracore from 2009-2012, might have affected a widening prosecutors’ probe into corruption at the school.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office is looking into whether Park Beom-hun, who served as senior secretary for education and culture from 2011-2013, pressured the Ministry of Education to approve controversial projects proposed by Chung-Ang. He headed the university before his stint at the presidential office.

Prosecutors allege that Park pulled strings to have Chung-Ang integrate its two campuses in Seoul and Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, in 2012.

Prosecutors are trying to find whether Chung-Ang hired Park’s first daughter as a professor in return for his help to make the deal. They already secured evidence that he repeatedly pressured high-ranking ministry officials, including Koo Ja-moon and Oh Seung-hyun, to cooperate.

The ministry initially objected to Chung-Ang’s plan, saying that the school needs to secure more land on its Seoul campus to accommodate all students.

However, the ministry later changed its position to approve the deal. The school is suspected of earning tens of billions of won in illegal gains from the merger.

Park has also been suspected of supporting Kim Jung-haeng, former head of Yong In University, in his run for the Korean Olympic Committee president in exchange for giving a professor position to his second daughter at the school in 2013.

When the school was looking for a professor at the Korean traditional music department, it is suspected that the school changed the requirement from “those with high-level of English ability are preferred” to “high-level of foreign language ability” for his daughter, who is fluent in Chinese not English. The school denied the claim.

Park, a former Korean traditional music professor, was a key aide to former president Lee during his presidential campaign in 2008. He has been banned from leaving the country.

According to the prosecution, he never attended a board meeting but received 58 million won ($53,000) per year until last month.

Meanwhile, the prosecution plans to summon Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction officials, including Chairman Park Yong-sung, this week regarding their roles in the merger of the school.

Doosan Group owns the university and the school’s board has five Doosan executives, including Park who serves as the university’s board chairman.

Prosecutors said that they are considering summoning all Chung-Ang’s board members.