Park Sunae Likely to Resign Voluntarily... Will the Ministry of Education Face Another Leadership Vacancy?

Deputy Prime Minister Park Soon-ae Likely to Resign Voluntarily After 35 Days in Office
Dismissed Amid Controversy Over School System Reform for 5-Year-Old Enrollment and Closure of Foreign Language High Schools
Policy Backfires Due to 'Announce First, Discuss Later' Approach
Ongoing Competency Issues Including Drunk Driving and Plagiarism Allegations

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Park Soon-ae is greeting at a meeting with parent organizations regarding the lowering of the school starting age held on the 2nd at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Deputy Prime Minister Park Soon-ae is stepping down after 35 days, hindered by the policy of mandatory enrollment for five-year-olds. This marks the second resignation following nominee Kim In-cheol since the new government took office, making a leadership vacuum in the Ministry of Education inevitable.

On the 8th, Deputy Prime Minister Park did not go to the Sejong Government Complex but handled unofficial schedules in Seoul. It appears she has settled on voluntarily resigning ahead of her appearance before the Education Committee on the 9th.

At the regular briefing that day, a Ministry of Education official said, "There is nothing confirmed regarding her position," adding, "Deputy Prime Minister Park held meetings on various issues in preparation for the Education Committee schedule and did not make any particular remarks about reports related to her position."

If Deputy Prime Minister Park resigns that day, she will step down 35 days after her inauguration on July 5 and 76 days after her nomination as Deputy Prime Minister. The Ministry of Education, which had no head for 41 days after the new government took office, will face another leadership gap.

The speculation about Deputy Prime Minister Park’s dismissal was triggered by the five-year-old mandatory enrollment system reform plan. At the work report on the 29th of last month, the policy to reform the school system, which was not part of the national agenda, was included, sparking fierce opposition from parents. The inclusion of the school system reform plan as a major task in the work report is known to have strongly reflected Deputy Prime Minister Park’s intentions. Despite concerns that it did not consider child development and would encourage early private education, the Ministry of Education insisted on public discussion, which ultimately ignited the dismissal controversy. The approach of "announcing first, discussing later" was also problematic, especially since the previous government had failed to reach social consensus on the policy.

The plan to abolish foreign language high schools was also included in the work report and was announced unilaterally without public discussion. Although the national agenda included a policy to completely scrap the abolition of autonomous private high schools and specialized high schools, the plan to abolish only foreign language high schools was revealed for the first time that day. This led parents and principals to demand Deputy Prime Minister Park’s resignation. Although the Ministry of Education belatedly stated, "We will fully collect diverse opinions from various sectors through future policy research and forums and faithfully conduct social discussions to prepare a plan for high school system reform," it was insufficient to resolve the situation.

Deputy Prime Minister Park reportedly said at a meeting with university presidents last month that she intended to "return to school in March next year." This remark, made just three days after her inauguration during a meeting with non-metropolitan university presidents opposing the expansion of semiconductor quotas, drew criticism for being irresponsible.

In addition, controversy arose over Deputy Prime Minister Park’s qualifications as Minister of Education after it was revealed she received a suspended sentence for drunk driving in 2001. Other issues such as duplicate publication and plagiarism of papers, as well as allegations of illegal admission consulting for her children, surfaced. Despite these adverse conditions, Deputy Prime Minister Park persevered. As her approval rating plummeted to the 20% range, it is understood that the presidential office had no choice but to consider personnel reshuffling by dismissing her.

A member of the National Assembly’s Education Committee said, "Since President Yoon Suk-yeol mentioned this morning his intention to carry out personnel reshuffling, it seems Deputy Prime Minister Park will voluntarily resign after reporting to Yongsan. Because the five-year-old enrollment policy was announced as a ministerial decision, it is unlikely she will mention withdrawing it, and the remaining officials will have to manage the policy recovery," he said.