Cho Hee-yeon is embraced by officers after the Supreme Court docket upheld the unique verdict on Thursday that sentenced Cho to 1 12 months and 6 months in jail and two years of probation for abuse of energy. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s Supreme Court docket has upheld an 18-month suspended jail sentence for Cho Hee-yeon, the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Workplace of Schooling, for abuse of energy in reinstating 5 dismissed lecturers six years in the past. The ruling successfully removes Cho from his place because the longest-serving training chief within the nation.
The court docket delivered its verdict on Thursday, confirming the suspended sentence, which suggests Cho won’t serve jail time until he commits one other offense through the two-year suspension interval. Below South Korean legislation, a superintendent should resign if a confirmed jail sentence is handed down.
Cho was initially indicted in 2018 on costs of ordering his employees to proceed with particular hiring, by reinstating 5 lecturers who had been dismissed, together with former members of a lecturers’ labor union. He defended his actions, arguing that the reinstatement was geared toward selling social concord and integration and was performed with due diligence.
Nonetheless, each the primary trial court docket and the appellate court docket discovered Cho responsible of failing to uphold his obligation to make sure a good and clear hiring course of. The Supreme Court docket agreed with these rulings, stating that the decrease courts didn’t err of their judgment or misread the legislation.
Cho, who was re-elected as Seoul’s training chief for a 3rd time period in 2022, will see his tenure minimize quick as a result of ruling. A by-election to decide on his successor is scheduled for October 16.
