[Exclusive] Supreme Court to Deliver Verdict on Jo Hee-yeon’s ‘Preferential Hiring’ Appeal on 29th… Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Chief’s Moment of Fate

Supreme Court Sets Sentencing Date for 29th
Loss of Superintendent Position if Second Trial Guilty Verdict Confirmed

The Supreme Court hearing date for Cho Hee-yeon, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent who was convicted in the first and second trials for improperly giving special employment to dismissed teachers affiliated with the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (Jeon-gyo-jo), has been set for the 29th of this month. It is expected that the final decision on whether he will lose his position as Seoul Education Superintendent will be made by the end of this month.

According to the legal community on the 19th, the Supreme Court hearing date for Superintendent Cho's appeal has been scheduled for the 29th. Previously, Superintendent Cho was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year probation in both the first and second trials.

Earlier, Superintendent Cho submitted supplementary opinions to the Supreme Court twice, in March and on the 2nd of this month, along with a request for a constitutional review of the abuse of authority charge. The request for a constitutional review is an application to the court asking the Constitutional Court to examine the constitutionality of the law applied in the trial.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

If the court accepts this, the trial will be automatically suspended until the Constitutional Court issues a decision on the constitutionality review, according to the Constitutional Court Act. However, since the hearing date for Superintendent Cho has been set, the legal community expects that the request for a constitutional review will likely be dismissed.

The legal provision for which Superintendent Cho filed the constitutional review request on the 2nd is Article 123 of the Criminal Act, which punishes public officials who abuse their authority to compel others to perform duties they are not obligated to do. Superintendent Cho is accused of specially employing five dismissed teachers who were convicted for violating the Local Education Autonomy Act following demands from Jeon-gyo-jo during 2017-2018. His side has argued that punishing public officials under the abuse of authority charge violates the Constitution, stating that if the illegality of a superior's order is unclear, the abuse of authority charge cannot be established.

Additionally, Superintendent Cho argued in March that Article 12 of the Educational Officials Act is unconstitutional. He explained that before the 2016 amendment to the Educational Officials Appointment Decree, there was no requirement that special recruitment cases must be selected through an open competitive examination.

Meanwhile, if Superintendent Cho's suspended sentence of imprisonment or higher is confirmed, he will lose his position as superintendent. According to the Local Autonomy Act and the Public Official Election Act, if a superintendent is sentenced to imprisonment or higher and the sentence is finalized, they are subject to dismissal.

If he loses his position this month, a by-election for the Seoul Education Superintendent will be held within this year. Superintendent Cho was elected for a third term in 2022, with his term set to last until June 2026. According to the National Election Commission, if the notification of loss of office is received before the 31st of this month, the by-election will be held on October 16.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "We have not received any information regarding the trial," and added, "Whatever the outcome, we will accept it calmly."