[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] A court ruling has upheld the education authorities' decision to revoke the autonomous private high school (Autonomous Private School, JaSaGo) designation of Seoul Whimoon High School, where a 5 billion KRW embezzlement and breach of trust case involving the honorary chairman and the secretary-general occurred.
The Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 2 (Presiding Judge Shin Myung-hee) on the 15th ruled against the plaintiff, the Whimoon Foundation, in its lawsuit against the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education seeking to cancel the revocation of the JaSaGo designation.
The court stated, "The amount embezzled, which is recognized as the reason for the revocation of the JaSaGo designation, amounts to 3.075 billion KRW, and the breach of trust amounts to about 20 million KRW," adding, "Embezzlement and breach of trust occurred over a long period, and the plaintiff failed to fulfill its social responsibility as an educational institution."
It further added, "Although about 260 million KRW was recovered, this is insignificant as it does not even reach 10% of the total embezzled and breached amount."
Earlier, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education held the 'Autonomous School Designation and Operation Committee' in 2020 and decided to revoke Whimoon High School's JaSaGo designation, with the Ministry of Education also agreeing to this decision.
While there have been past cases where schools either voluntarily converted to general high schools or were converted after failing to meet evaluation criteria conducted every five years, this was the first case where a JaSaGo designation was revoked due to accounting fraud.
Whimoon High School was found in a 2018 audit by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to have embezzled 3.825 billion KRW from 2011 to 2017 by renting the school gymnasium and other facilities to a church for worship services and receiving school development donations beyond the usage fees, involving the 8th honorary chairman and the foundation's secretary-general (who also served as the Whimoon High School administrative director).
Prosecutorial investigations revealed that the honorary chairman and secretary-general embezzled a total of approximately 5.2 billion KRW from 2008, before Whimoon High School was designated as a JaSaGo.
The Whimoon Foundation filed a lawsuit to cancel the revocation of the JaSaGo designation and also applied for a suspension of the enforcement of the revocation until the main lawsuit's outcome was decided, obtaining a suspension order from the court.
However, even if Whimoon High School ultimately loses the lawsuit, current students enrolled at Whimoon will be guaranteed their status as JaSaGo students and the educational curriculum planned at the time of their admission until graduation. Furthermore, according to the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, changes to high school entrance procedures must be announced at least three months before the application period. Since the application period for Seoul area JaSaGo schools begins on December 7, Whimoon High School is expected to be able to admit new students as a JaSaGo for the next academic year.
Meanwhile, this ruling marks the first time the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has won a lawsuit seeking to cancel a JaSaGo designation revocation.
In a statement released immediately after the court's ruling, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said, "This court ruling recognizes the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's judgment that accounting fraud by the school foundation and school officials constitutes grounds for revoking the JaSaGo designation under relevant laws, and affirms the legality and legitimacy of the revocation decision."
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