Cho Hee-yeon Withdraws Appeal in Autonomous Private High School Lawsuit... Surrenders as Defeat Looms

Appeal Withdrawn Ahead of Second Trial Verdict... Busan Haeundae High School Also Wins in Second Trial
Preparing for Conversion to General High School in 2025, Education Office and Autonomous Private High School to Form Consultative Body

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, is announcing a comprehensive support plan for general high schools, including support measures for co-growth with autonomous private high schools transitioning to general high schools, at a press conference held at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the 17th. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, has decided to withdraw the appeal against the cancellation of designation lawsuits for seven autonomous private high schools (Autonomous Private High Schools, APSHs) in Seoul.

On the 27th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced that it will end the legal disputes with the seven schools (Kyunghee High School, Paichai High School, Sehwa High School, Shinil High School, Ewha Girls' High School, Joongang High School, Handong High School) whose designations were canceled based on the 2019 APSH performance evaluation results, and proceed with the appeal withdrawal process.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education explained, "This is to end the lawsuit whose significance has diminished due to the planned blanket conversion of APSHs to general high schools in 2025, and to more faithfully respond to the historical demand for a new high school system reform following the full implementation of the high school credit system in 2025."

After losing all lawsuits filed by APSHs in August last year regarding the invalidation of designation cancellations, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education appealed but reversed its position after five months. At that time, APSHs requested the withdrawal of the appeal, citing difficulties due to decreased new student admissions and financial deterioration, but the request was not accepted.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "The appeal was filed to clarify the differences in views between the court and the education office regarding the predictability and significance of the partially changed APSH evaluation criteria in 2019, and the scope of the superintendent's discretionary power, and to receive the court's judgment once again on the legality and legitimacy of the APSH designation cancellation."

On August 28, 2021, right after Kyunghee High School and Handae High School won the lawsuit to cancel the designation cancellation of autonomous private high schools, the principals of the autonomous private high schools held a press conference in front of the Seoul Administrative Court. The autonomous private high schools demanded that Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, withdraw the appeal.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said, "There were concerns that prolonged legal disputes could weaken school educational capabilities and harm current APSH students, and that uncertainty in high school admissions could cause confusion among middle school students and parents."

Going forward, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and APSH principals will form a consultative body to discuss current issues related to APSH policies.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education explained, "Taking this appeal withdrawal as an opportunity, we will focus more on promoting the blanket conversion of APSHs, foreign language high schools, and international high schools to general high schools in 2025 according to the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and on establishing a new high school system following the full implementation of the high school credit system."

The decision by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to withdraw the second-instance appeal is interpreted as reflecting the low likelihood of winning the case and political considerations to minimize the burden of defeat for Superintendent Cho ahead of the superintendent election scheduled for June.

On the 12th, in the second-instance lawsuit of Busan Haeundae High School, the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education also lost. The court ruled that notifying new evaluation criteria and indicators just before the APSH evaluation was an abuse of the education office's discretionary power.