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| Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon speaks to the press after his first sentence at Seoul Central District Court, southern Seoul, Friday. Yonhap |
By Lee Yeon-woo
Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon received a suspended prison term for abusing his power in the reinstatement of five teachers who had been fired.
If the district court's ruling is upheld by a higher court, Cho will lose his position as superintendent. Under the current law, elected politicians will be removed from their elective posts if they receive a jail term.
On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Cho to a year and a half in prison, which was suspended for two years, for abusing his power and violating the Government Officials Act.
"Even though Cho has the duty to transparently lead and supervise the procedure of special employment, he abused his power in disguise of a fair and competitive procedure, while damaging the transparency and fairness of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's hiring process," the court said.
Cho was accused of ordering the reinstatement of five former teachers, including members of the teachers' labor union, who were convicted of violating the Public Official Election Act. The five were affiliated with the leftist Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union. One of the five was once Cho's rival who declared a bid to run in the election for superintendent of Seoul. He later withdrew his bid to support Cho in the race.
The court discovered that Cho pushed to re-hire them as teachers through a special hiring process in 2018, despite protests from SMOE officials. It viewed the process as a means of disguising their re-employment.
In court, Cho claimed that he did not unfairly intervene in the hiring process. He said that hiring the former teachers was part of a "proactive exercise of power to achieve social cohesion and integration,"
Cho said he will appeal the ruling.
"The prosecution had gone too far by indicting me, so I had hoped that the court could right the wrong. But the ruling betrayed my wish," he said. "I will appeal to right the wrong."
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