Cho Kook, former Minister of Justice. News 1
It was pointed out on the 2nd that Seoul National University was the only former Justice Minister Cho Kook who did not proceed with disciplinary procedures within three months among professors who were prosecuted for the past five years.
According to data submitted by Seoul National University, Rep. Kwak Sang-do, a total of 18 professors have been informed of prosecution from the prosecution since 2018. Excluding former Minister Cho, the remaining 17 were subjected to disciplinary proceedings within three months of the prosecution’s notification of prosecution.
In the case of former Minister Cho, Seoul National University received a prosecution notice from the prosecution on January 13 last year, but has not undergone any disciplinary procedures until now. According to the Seoul National University’s’Professor Personnel Regulations’, the president can proceed with disciplinary proceedings if he or she is notified by an investigating agency about a teacher’s criminal case (Article 4, Paragraph 2). It is common for the disciplinary committee to determine the level of disciplinary action and inform the president of the disciplinary action, and the president to take disciplinary action based on the decision.
In particular, four professors who were prosecuted after Cho had already undergone disciplinary proceedings, and in the case of Professor A, who was prosecuted in August last year, the disciplinary proceedings were undertaken with’high speed’ in just four days. That is why it is pointed out that the disciplinary action against other professors and former Minister Cho is against equity.
On the other hand, after former Minister Cho was released from his position on January 29 last year, Kwak estimated that he received a total salary of 38.95 million won for one year and one month (January 2020 to January 2021) without giving lectures. Seoul National University pays 50% of the salary to teachers who have been assigned positions and 30% of the salary after three months.
Regarding the failure to proceed with the disciplinary procedure of former Minister Cho, Seoul National University said, “There was a limit to verifying the contents of the charges only with the point of the prosecution of the charges notified by the prosecution.” The request for a disciplinary decision was put on hold until the decision was made by the judiciary or the judgment of the judiciary.”
Meanwhile, in January of last year, the 6th Division of the District Prosecutor’s Office of the Seoul East District prosecuted former Minister Cho for ex officio abuse. He was accused of halting the inspection of the Blue House Special Supervisory Team against the former Vice Mayor Yoo Jae-soo of Busan while serving as the Blue House Chief Min Jeong in 2017. In addition, he is also suspected of engaging in corruption in the entrance examination of his daughter, Cho Min (30), along with his wife Chung Kyung-shim, professor at Dongyang University.
On December 23, last year, the court judged guilty of 11 of the 15 charges of Professor Chung’s guilty of’corruption on the entrance examination by Mr. Cho,’ and sentenced him to 4 years in prison and a fine of 500 million won.
Reporter Seok-Hyun Ko [email protected]