[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Sejong University has refuted the Ministry of Education's audit results, stating that "there was no negligence in executive duties or low-cost leasing."
The Ministry of Education previously pointed out that Daeyang Academy, the school corporation of Sejong University, invested 165.7 billion KRW in securities and criticized the insufficient rate of return. In response, Sejong University stated, "The 165.7 billion KRW represents the investment performance of companies invested in with 123 KRW since 1978," adding, "When converted to a rate of return, it is 11% per year." They also explained, "Sejong Hotel is a corporation wholly owned by Daeyang Academy, which leases it and receives a total of 900 million KRW annually, including 600 million KRW in rent and 300 million KRW in donations." Based on this, the calculated rates of return were 2.09% in 2017 and 1.86% in 2018, both exceeding the statutory rates of 1.48% and 1.56%, respectively.
Furthermore, Sejong University stated, "The decrease in profits from Sejong Hotel and others was due to a total deficit of 29 billion KRW during the temporary board of directors period from 2005 to 2009, which increased borrowings by 27.6 billion KRW." They added, "In 2015, due to the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) incident, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and the deterioration of Korea-Japan relations, most domestic hotels, including Sejong Hotel, faced difficulties with deficits."
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