Park Sunae Resigns After 34 Days in Office: "I Take Responsibility for the Controversy Over School System Reform"

Controversy Over School System Reform for 5-Year-Olds Leads to Voluntary Resignation
Resigned 34 Days After Appointment, 10 Days After Work Report Presentation
Mismatch Between 'Announcement Before Discussion' on School System Reform and Closure of Foreign Language High Schools
Persisted Despite Drunk Driving and Plagiarism Allegations, Finally Resigned

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

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Park Soon-ae resigned just 34 days after taking office. This marks the first dismissal of a Cabinet member since the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. The Deputy Prime Minister position has become vacant again in just over a month.

On the 8th, Deputy Prime Minister Park held an emergency press conference at the Korea Education Facilities Safety Institute in Yeouido, Seoul, stating, "Today, I intend to resign from my position as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education," adding, "I take full responsibility for all controversies, including the school system reform." Park left without taking questions from reporters.

Park resigned 34 days after her inauguration on the 5th of last month. Following the announcement of the school system reform plan, which centers on lowering the elementary school entrance age to five, during the presidential briefing on the 29th of last month, she faced fierce opposition from parents and teachers.

Park ultimately resigned voluntarily a day before her scheduled appearance at the Education Committee on the 9th. On that day, she did not go to the Sejong Government Complex but held a meeting in Seoul to review key issues in preparation for her attendance at the National Assembly’s Education Committee, before resigning in the afternoon.

As the president’s approval rating plummeted following the announcement of the school system reform plan, the Blue House is also understood to have shifted its stance toward dismissal. The Ministry of Education also removed content related to lowering the school entrance age from its National Assembly briefing materials.

Regarding this, a Ministry of Education official said, "Unlike the presidential briefing, some parts were condensed, and it seems that sentences were omitted during the overall condensation process by the Planning and Coordination Office." He added, "This does not indicate a change in position," and further stated, "(The policy of five-year-old school entrance) will go through a public discussion process as previously mentioned."

The inclusion of the school system reform plan as a major task in the briefing is known to have strongly reflected Deputy Prime Minister Park’s intentions. Despite concerns that it did not consider child development and could encourage early private education, the Ministry of Education did not waver in its stance to hold public discussions. The approach of ‘announce first, discuss later’ was also problematic, especially since previous administrations failed to reach social consensus on this policy.

The sudden announcement of plans to abolish foreign language high schools also sparked controversy during the briefing. Although the national agenda included a complete rollback of policies to abolish 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. Parents and principals of foreign language high schools demanded Deputy Prime Minister Park’s resignation. The Ministry of Education stated on the 5th, "We will prepare a high school system reform plan through social discussion," but calls for resignation continued to pour in.

Additionally, Park was formally prosecuted after being caught for drunk driving in 2001 (with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.251%) but received a suspended sentence. Drunk driving is also a disqualification criterion for principal appointment recommendations. Furthermore, controversies arose over duplicate publication and plagiarism of her papers, as well as allegations of illegal admission consulting for her children, raising questions about her qualifications.