‘Unfair Hiring’ Cho Hee-yeon Education Superintendent Sentenced to Probation in First Trial... Risk of Job Loss

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Cho Hee-yeon, the Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, who was prosecuted for unfair special recruitment of dismissed teachers, was sentenced to a suspended prison term in the first trial. According to current law, a superintendent loses their position if sentenced to imprisonment without labor or higher.

On the afternoon of the 27th, the Criminal Division 25-2 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Park Jeongje, Park Sarang, Park Jeonggil) sentenced Superintendent Cho, who was charged with abuse of authority, obstruction of the exercise of rights, and violation of the National Public Service Act, to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 2-year suspension. Former Chief Secretary Han, who was responsible for practical work, was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a 2-year suspension.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On this day, the court did not accept any of the claims made by Superintendent Cho regarding the charges. The court stated, "This special recruitment was merely a disguised open competition when considering the occasion, procedural progress, examination, and results comprehensively," and added, "The defendant had the duty to conduct and supervise the special recruitment process fairly and transparently, but abused related procedures for the special recruitment of certain teachers, thereby damaging the public nature of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's recruitment."

At the previous closing argument, the prosecution requested the court to sentence Superintendent Cho to 2 years in prison. Han was requested to be sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison. The prosecution pointed out, "The defendants claim there was no problem because the process was conducted through a public procedure, but this is like 'covering one's eyes and pretending not to see,' and it cannot be said that the five recruited persons and other applicants competed fairly."

Earlier, Superintendent Cho was prosecuted on charges of abuse of authority for giving improper instructions to officials in charge to specially recruit five dismissed teachers from the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (JeonGyoJo), who were confirmed guilty of violating election laws from October to December 2018.

Superintendent Cho is also charged with violating the National Public Service Act for proceeding with the recruitment process disguised as an open competitive exam while having preselected these individuals, or for conveying to some examiners the intention to give high scores to specific persons.

This case was transferred from the police to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) last year, marking the first investigation case after the CIO's establishment. After about four months of investigation, the CIO referred the case to the prosecution with an indictment opinion, and the prosecution reached the same conclusion as the CIO and indicted Superintendent Cho without detention at the end of the same year.