The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    14 injured as escalator reverses at Sunae Station in Bundang

  • 3

    JYP founder to work as guest commentator for NBA finals on Korean cable

  • 5

    Heart transplant recipients tie the knot

  • 7

    Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes

  • 9

    S. Korea wins seat on UN Security Council for 2024-25

  • 11

    Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban

  • 13

    Yido bridges East, West via fusion cuisine in crafted ceramics

  • 15

    Rise in temperatures, solar radiation by 2100 inevitable: weather agency

  • 17

    Ad or song?: Coca-Cola Zero ad featuring NewJeans becomes marketing blueprint

  • 19

    INTERVIEWSpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul

  • 2

    RM to attend Seoul festival to mark BTS' 10th anniv.

  • 4

    BTS lifts veil on upcoming 10th anniversary event

  • 6

    Experts skeptical about effectiveness of S. Korea's UNSC seat to rein in NK

  • 8

    Seoul Queer Culture Festival venue moved to Euljiro

  • 10

    Korea, Poland celebrate rollout of Warsaw's first FA-50

  • 12

    Samsung to unveil new foldable phones at Galaxy Unpacked in Seoul

  • 14

    Coupang, Baemin under pressure from radical labor groups

  • 16

    Apple's Vision Pro likely to accelerate Samsung's race in XR eyewear biz

  • 18

    Big events come in threes for Korean football

  • 20

    3 KBO players fined, ordered to do community service for drinking during WBC

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
Fri, June 9, 2023 | 17:43
Politics
Understanding young Koreans' rage against Cho Kuk
Posted : 2019-08-28 17:26
Updated : 2019-08-28 20:20
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
Seoul National University students hold a rally on their campus, Aug. 23, to urge justice minister nominee Cho Kuk to step down due to multiple allegations surrounding his family. / Yonhap
Seoul National University students hold a rally on their campus, Aug. 23, to urge justice minister nominee Cho Kuk to step down due to multiple allegations surrounding his family. / Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

For Kim Mina, 27, a graduate student studying science history and philosophy in Seoul, preparing for college was like making her way through a dark maze by herself.

The small town she grew up in Gyeonggi Province got its first public library when she was in middle school. In high school, she realized English was not a subject she could teach herself with books after getting the result of her first national exam trial test. Her parents were loving, but did not have the education to understand much of her writing.

So when she entered Seoul National University (SNU) through a special quota for residents of agriculture and fishing areas, the gap she felt with many of her lavishly groomed peers ― many of them from upper class households ― often made her feel alone.

But it still didn't prepare her for the recent scandal involving justice minister nominee Cho Kuk's daughter. It has been reported that Cho's daughter was named as the lead author in an academic research paper published in the Korean Journal of Pathology after just a two-week internship when she was only a high school student. The internship was with a Dankook University professor whose son went to the same foreign language school as her. The paper gave a boost to her college applications and got her a spot at Korea University. She now attends medical school in Busan, which allegedly gave her scholarships she did not qualify for.

"The scandal lays bare how meticulously the elite pass down their socioeconomic status to their children. Cho says everything happened within legal boundaries but knowing the use of such loopholes is also power," Kim told The Korea Times. "Seeing it really shook me up, opening up all the feelings of inferiority and deprivation that have built up inside me for years."

According to last year's government scholarship data, between one half and two-thirds of students at the top-three universities ― Seoul National, Korea and Yonsei ― came from households in the top 20th percentile of income distribution.

Kim's comments on the Cho scandal were shared over 1,680 times on Twitter, with many supporting her view. Despite all his talk on progressive values and social equality, Cho, too, is now perceived as part of a system most young people feel oppressed by ― the rich elite parent with enough inside influence to set his daughter on the path to guaranteed success amid moral gray zones.

Star prosecutor back in spotlight over Cho Kuk probe
Star prosecutor back in spotlight over Cho Kuk probe
2019-08-28 15:47  |  Law & Crime

Many are also enraged and disappointed with Cho because the revelations involving him and his family are the extreme opposite of what he called for as a law professor and a "progressive figure."

His social media posts condemning social inequality head-on got thousands of likes from young voters, and the bulk of his political image ― and career ― rested on the principles of equality, justice and human rights.

In his 2010 book, for example, Cho writes "Isn't it horrible how the household one is born into determines one's life?"

In a social media post written in 2012, he also said that in a society where economic disparity has become wider, the chance of a person from low-income brackets to become successful is very low, citing a Korean proverb that even a dragon can be born from a dirty stream. "Not everybody can be dragon, but they don't need to be dragon," he said. "What's more important is to make an environment where fish, frogs and crayfish can live happily in the stream without becoming a dragon and flying into the sky."

Jo, a senior SNU student who took Cho's criminal law class in 2014, said he was put off by the double standard.

"As a professor he seemed hard-working and morally righteous. If he was going to be different behind everyone's back, maybe he should have been a bit more generous with his moral rules," Jo said.

Some of the strongest backlash came from students at Korea University, which is planning another candlelit rally calling for Cho's resignation this week.

"If I also had a gold spoon parent like Cho Kuk, I could have just chilled in high school, become a lead author of a published research paper and got a free pass to Korea University," one student anonymously wrote on the university's online community. "I also could have enjoyed college life rather than giving it all up to prepare for medical grad school."

More students' groups at other universities are joining the call for Cho to step down.

In an official statement Monday, the student union at Kyungpook National University called for a probe into the whole "cartel," starting with the children of all high-ranking officials.

Regarding the row, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said he understands the rage. "I bitterly sympathize with the disappointment and anger shown by the peers of Cho's daughter. I also assume people who expected a fair society feel uncomfortable," Lee said during a National Assembly session, Monday.

But Lee said he would wait and see what Cho's explanations of the allegations were at his confirmation hearing.



Emailsylee@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes
2Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban
3[INTERVIEW] SpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul INTERVIEWSpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul
4Billy Graham Seoul Crusade celebrates 50th anniversary Billy Graham Seoul Crusade celebrates 50th anniversary
5Dollar remittance, foreign exchange rules to be eased Dollar remittance, foreign exchange rules to be eased
6Home gardening boom inspires plant adoption, specialized care services for leafy companions Home gardening boom inspires plant adoption, specialized care services for leafy companions
7Yoon's labor reform drive sputters as umbrella union exits talks Yoon's labor reform drive sputters as umbrella union exits talks
8Korean businesses seek tougher punishments for industrial espionage Korean businesses seek tougher punishments for industrial espionage
9Yoon calls for all-out efforts to win chip war Yoon calls for all-out efforts to win chip war
10Bookstore specializing in film is haven for readers and seaside lovers alike Bookstore specializing in film is haven for readers and seaside lovers alike
Top 5 Entertainment News
1'Leaving Las Vegas' director Mike Figgis puts Korea in spotlight in new film 'Leaving Las Vegas' director Mike Figgis puts Korea in spotlight in new film
2Netflix's new original 'Bloodhounds' to deliver cathartic actionNetflix's new original 'Bloodhounds' to deliver cathartic action
3White Cube to open space in Seoul White Cube to open space in Seoul
4Music festival brings attention to DMZ Music festival brings attention to DMZ
5China's hallyu restrictions likely to continue unless Seoul-Beijing ties improve China's hallyu restrictions likely to continue unless Seoul-Beijing ties improve
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group