Audit office finds procedural problems in school violence case involving former presidential aide’s child, but cannot confirm pressure

South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection found that a school violence committee appeared to settle on a punishment before conducting its formal review in a case involving the child of former presidential protocol secretary Kim Seung-hee.

The board released its findings on Sept. 1 concerning allegations that the case had been reduced through outside influence during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The child, then a third-grade student at an elementary school in Seongnam, was accused of assaulting a second-grade student. The committee imposed a class change, prompting claims that pressure had prevented a harsher punishment.

The controversy grew after it became known that Kim Keon Hee had spoken by phone with Jang Sang-yoon, then an education vice minister and later a senior presidential secretary. Recordings released during last year’s parliamentary audit appeared to show committee members reluctant to order a forced transfer. They also appeared to show the members settling on a class change and adjusting their scores to fit that outcome.

The audit office said committee members told investigators they did not know Kim Seung-hee was the student’s parent and had not received pressure or requests. The case materials and student records also contained no information identifying the parent. Investigators could not obtain some communications records because their retention period had expired, and they found no signs of outside pressure in messages from some Seongnam education office officials.

Still, the board concluded that the committee had assigned a score of 15 after deciding on a class change. It described this as a problem in the Seongnam education office’s working practices. Among 83 cases handled by the office’s school violence committees from August through October 2023, 27 also involved deciding the measure first and calculating the score backward. In 35 cases, the committee assigned scores before deciding the measure.

The board also found that an administrative secretary identified as Mr. A improperly intervened in the deliberations. After speaking by phone with someone described as a department head, the secretary reportedly suggested avoiding a forced transfer and considering a longer suspension of attendance, despite not being a committee member. Investigators could not establish who the department head was because the people involved said they could not remember and telecommunications records were unavailable.

“

We conducted in-person and written interviews with the school violence committee members and thoroughly verified relevant physical evidence, including communication records, but found no objective evidence proving outside pressure.