Chaea Park of Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly Calls for Correction of "Backdoor Lease Contract" for JeonGyoJo Gyeongbuk Branch Office

Call for Action During Gyeongbuk Office of Education Settlement Review

On June 12, Chaea Park, Chair of the Education Committee of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly (People Power Party, Gyeongsan), raised concerns about a backdoor contract related to the office lease of the Gyeongbuk branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (JeonGyoJo) during the Gyeongbuk Office of Education's settlement review, and called for corrective action.

Chair Park stated, "The Gyeongbuk Office of Education reported that it was paying a monthly rent of 2.5 million won without a deposit, but in reality, the JeonGyoJo Gyeongbuk branch paid a deposit of 30 million won, and the monthly rent is actually 3 million won, which includes an additional 500,000 won. I have confirmed that a deposit of 30 million won and a total annual rent of 36 million won are being paid for the JeonGyoJo Gyeongbuk branch office lease." She urged an explanation from union officials and called for corrective measures.

Chaea Park, Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly Member

She also pointed out that the monthly rent of 3 million won is unreasonably high compared to the market rate for nearby commercial spaces (1.2 million to 1.5 million won). In addition, she noted that according to the Local Subsidy Act, the rent currently being paid as general operating expenses by the Gyeongbuk Office of Education should instead be provided as a private current subsidy.

Chaea Park stated, "Teachers, who are responsible for educating and guiding students, are required to uphold a higher standard of ethics than the general public and should serve as role models. I regret that the office lease contract was pursued through expedient means, and I insist that this must be corrected. As someone who has always advocated for the protection of teachers' rights, I make this suggestion to the teachers' unions." She proposed an alternative, saying, "To resolve the current unreasonable office rent issue, I believe the most reasonable solution is for the JeonGyoJo Gyeongbuk branch, the Gyeongbuk Teachers' Association, and the Gyeongbuk Teachers' Union?three unions in total?to work together in a single location."