Record 8 candidates crowd the race as policy and vision give way to ideological attacks, anti-gay rhetoric and mutual legal complaints

The eight candidates running for Seoul superintendent of education — the most of any race nationwide — are Kim Young-bae, Ryu Su-no, Yoon Ho-sang, Lee Hak-in, Cho Jeon-hyeok, Jeong Geun-sik, Han Man-jung and Hong Je-nam. [Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education]
The eight candidates running for Seoul superintendent of education — the most of any race nationwide — are Kim Young-bae, Ryu Su-no, Yoon Ho-sang, Lee Hak-in, Cho Jeon-hyeok, Jeong Geun-sik, Han Man-jung and Hong Je-nam. [Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education]

By Kim Yong-jae, The Herald Business

With the June 3 local elections just one day away, the race for Seoul superintendent of education has been consumed by negative campaigning, cross-complaints and ideological attacks, with substantive education policy all but absent from the contest.

Education circles said Tuesday the race has hardened into a competition over ideological purity within each camp. A record eight candidates — Kim Young-bae, Ryu Su-no, Yoon Ho-sang, Lee Hak-in, Cho Jeon-hyeok, Jeong Geun-sik, Han Man-jung and Hong Je-nam — are vying for the post. Despite the office's constitutional mandate of political neutrality, left-right ideological conflict has emerged as the dominant issue, and candidates have not shied away from crude personal attacks, mudslinging and the stoking of hatred.

Three of the four conservative candidates have made "expelling homosexuality education" a central slogan, and some have called for banning the Queer Culture Festival held at Seoul Plaza. Candidate Cho Jeon-hyeok hung banners reading "Expel queer and homosexuality education" across the city and staged a performance in which he personally delivered a letter of opposition to the festival's organizing committee. "I will stop radical gender, queer and homosexuality education — pushed through without social consensus — from crossing school gates unchecked," Cho said.

Candidate Kim Young-bae joined the chorus at a press conference on May 27, saying he would "properly teach and discipline children on why we oppose homosexuality and the anti-discrimination law." Kim brought campaign workers holding pickets reading "Oppose homosexuality, oppose the anti-discrimination law" to the event.

Candidate Yoon Ho-sang initially criticized his fellow conservative candidates, saying they were "shadow boxing" over homosexuality education that does not even exist in schools, only to reverse course and stage a one-person protest against it himself. He has also visited Pastor Jeon Gwang-hun of Sarang Jeil Church, a clear play for conservative votes.

The progressive camp is in disarray as well. A failed candidate consolidation effort has led to a round of mutual legal complaints. Candidate Jeong Geun-sik filed a complaint against Han Man-jung — who declared he would stay in the race despite the consolidation process — alleging violations of the Public Official Election Act. Jeong's camp argued that Han's online campaign materials falsely implied he was the unified progressive candidate. The Seoul Election Commission also filed a police complaint against Han on May 22 on charges of publishing false information.

Han's camp fired back, filing a complaint with the Mapo Police Station in Seoul against Jeong, one of Jeong's former aides surnamed Choi, and the head of the Seoul Private School Principals' Association, surnamed Lee, also on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act. The complaint alleged that Jeong's side had promised preferential treatment during the consolidation process.

The spectacle has drawn sharp criticism from inside and outside the education community. Urgent issues — such as transforming school education for the AI era and protecting teachers' rights — have vanished from the debate, and the political neutrality of education enshrined in the constitution has been rendered meaningless.

"Candidates with low name recognition are fixating on inflammatory hate issues and tired ideological attacks just to get their names out there," one education sector official said. "Buried in ideological conflict, their policies and campaign pledges have become completely hollow."

The official added that it was "deplorable that policy competition has disappeared" from a race for an office whose annual budget of 11 trillion won (about $7.28 billion) rivals that of some metropolitan governments, making the superintendent effectively an "education governor." The official said the system governing superintendent elections was in need of reform.


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