Education Ministry vows to press ahead with dismissal of Northeast Asian History Foundation chief

The Ministry of Education said it will continue pursuing the dismissal of Park Ji-hyang, chairperson of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, who returned to work after a court temporarily suspended her job suspension order. The ministry said the court's decision merely paused the effect of the suspension — it did not cancel the original disposition or render a final judgment on whether embezzlement had occurred.

Ministry Spokesperson Jeong Byeong-ik said at a regular briefing Monday that the Seoul Administrative Court's decision "did not cancel the job suspension order issued by the education minister," adding that the court had granted an injunction Park had filed alongside her lawsuit seeking to overturn the suspension.

Park had filed a main lawsuit seeking cancellation of the ministry's job suspension order, along with a separate application for an injunction to halt the order's effect until a ruling is handed down.

The court granted the injunction on Aug. 21, allowing Park to retain her chairperson status until 30 days after the first-instance ruling in the main lawsuit is handed down. Park returned to work Monday as a result.

The ministry said the court's decision and its demand for a board meeting to discuss dismissal are separate matters. "What the court will decide in the main lawsuit is whether the job suspension order should be canceled," Jeong said. "This decision temporarily preserves her chairperson status and does not affect the demand to convene a board meeting." Asked whether the ministry would continue pursuing dismissal, he said, "That is our understanding."

The ministry sent consecutive letters to the foundation on Thursday and Friday demanding that a board meeting to discuss Park's dismissal be convened on Friday. Earlier, on July 29, the ministry suspended Park from her duties after determining that her use of funds earmarked for other purposes during a field trip to Ulleungdo and Dokdo constituted occupational embezzlement, and at the same time called for a board meeting to pursue her dismissal. Additional letters with the same demand were sent on Aug. 7 and Aug. 14.

The foundation requested a postponement, citing difficulty in meeting the quorum, but the ministry renewed its demand the following day. A motion to dismiss Park requires the support of at least eight of the 12 board members, including eight vice ministers from relevant government agencies.

The court had earlier found it difficult to conclude that there was sufficient evidence that field trip expenses for Ulleungdo and Dokdo and speaker fees for a weekly forum constituted unauthorized spending, or that Park had acted with intent to commit occupational embezzlement.

Park's side is understood to hold that continuing to pursue dismissal while the embezzlement charges have not been sufficiently substantiated is unacceptable.