Kindergarten group has internal dispute over shutdown

Park Young-ran, right, the head of the Korea Kindergarten Association’s Seoul branch, talks during a discussion with Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon at the latter’s office in Seoul, Friday. She announced Seoul kindergartens would not close down even though toughened regulations on their operations have been applied; however, some hard-line branch members are protesting her stance. / Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

An association of private kindergarten owners is embroiled in an internal dispute over them shutting down their businesses if the National Assembly passes three revision bills strengthening regulations on their operations.

Fifteen thousand members of the Korea Kindergarten Association (KKA) staged a rally at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, last Thursday, where they threatened to close their businesses if the Assembly ratifies a government move to force them to adopt the state-run Edufine accounting system.

The next day, however, the head of KKA Seoul, Park Young-ran, met with Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon and stated that the branch would not do anything that infringed on children's right to learn.

Clarifying this, the SMOE said private kindergartens in Seoul would not close down if the revision is passed.

Park also asked the office to amend Edufine, initially designed for public schools and kindergartens, be make it more suitable for private institutions.

But Park's actions produced an immediate response within the KKA, and some hardliner members of the Seoul branch visited her office Saturday to pressure her into adopting the same stance as the rest of the nationwide body.

Park apparently collapsed while she was being confronted, and her supporters claimed there was a physical altercation. She had asked the police to prevent the hardliners from approaching her. Others say Park collapsed while leaving the office after only 10 minutes of discussions.

Regarding the KKA threat, the Ministry of Education said it would take legal action against kindergarten owners who close their businesses. According to a relevant law, the owners must have “the support of two thirds of current customers” to close down, or face up to three years in prison or a 30 million won fine.

The revision bills are aimed at increasing transparency at private kindergartens, after widespread corruption among owners was disclosed in October, including accounting fraud and budget misappropriation.

Besides forcing them to use Edufine, the bills are designed to prohibit the owners of kindergartens from serving as principals, and to only allow the outsourcing of children's meal services to certified businesses.

While the ruling Democratic Party of Korea has been pushing the bills, the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) has argued that private kindergartens should be allowed to keep their own accounting system, saying they are the private assets of the owners. The LKP's stance is in line with the KKA, which said the government and the ruling party are denying them their private property rights.