Opposition Proposes 'Jeong Soon-shin Prevention Act'... "Push to Reflect School Violence in College Admissions"

The Democratic Party of Korea has introduced the 'Jeong Sun-shin Prevention Act.' The party announced plans to dismantle the Ministry of Justice's personnel verification team and implement supplementary measures such as reflecting school violence in university admissions screening.

Kim Seong-hwan, the Democratic Party's Policy Committee Chair, stated at the party's policy coordination meeting on the 2nd, "On the 28th of last month, the Democratic Party proposed a revision to the National Public Service Act, known as the Jeong Sun-shin Prevention Act, which returns the personnel verification function to the Ministry of Personnel Management. We will expedite the passage of the Jeong Sun-shin Prevention Act to normalize personnel information management tasks and decisively prevent the prosecutor dictatorship regime from undermining the separation of powers."

The Jeong Sun-shin incident refers to the case where Jeong Sun-shin, a lawyer whose son committed school violence during high school and even engaged in a Supreme Court lawsuit to prevent forced transfer, was appointed as the head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency but resigned after just one day.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The 'Jeong Sun-shin Prevention Act' mentioned by Chair Kim is a bill led by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Seong-min. It stipulates that the authority for systematic collection and management of information on public office candidates and others shall be vested in the Ministry of Personnel Management, and that this task cannot be entrusted or delegated. Currently, the law allows delegation to the Chief Presidential Secretary and the Minister of Justice, and the core point of the bill is to eliminate this delegation provision.

Chair Kim also said, "This year, we will establish and disclose methods and evaluation criteria for reflecting school violence in university admissions screening in the basic matters to be announced, to correct the unfair admission issues involving perpetrators of school violence."

Chair Kim stated, "There are three core issues in the Jeong Sun-shin incident: Are prosecutors monopolizing everything? Why was it not filtered out during the personnel verification process? And how could a serious school violence perpetrator get admitted to Seoul National University?"

Kang Deuk-gu, a Democratic Party lawmaker and head of the fact-finding team investigating the inadequate verification in the Jeong Sun-shin personnel fiasco, asserted at the meeting, "Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon must take clear responsibility for the failure in personnel verification and appointment in this incident," and demanded, "Dismantle the personnel information management team immediately."