Education civic groups criticize the Office of Education's lukewarm response to the Mokpo private kindergarten director's subsidy embezzlement case

Education civic group "The Office of Education's response is lukewarm... We should be grateful to private kindergartens."

(Gwangju, South Jeolla Province = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang A-reum = Following Gwangju, a kindergarten was caught embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies in Mokpo, and civic groups urged the Office of Education to take action.

According to the Citizens' Association for a Society Without Academic Classes, an educational civic group, on the 23rd, it was belatedly confirmed that Mr. A, the director of a kindergarten in Yongdang-dong, Mokpo-si, Namgwangju, was sentenced to a fine of 5 million won in an appeals court on charges of violating the Private School Act.

Mr. A was indicted in 2024 on charges of unfairly receiving a total of 177 million won from March 2019 to July 2023 by overpaying his salary from his kindergarten tuition account to repay debt, and unfairly spending 870,000 won, including his own hospital treatment and medication expenses.

Mr. A was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation for business embezzlement in the first trial held at the Mokpo Branch of the Gwangju District Court in April 2025.

Afterwards, in an appeal held at the Gwangju District Court in May, the fine was reduced to 5 million won after being found guilty of violating the Private School Act and returning 50 million won to the kindergarten account.

The citizens' group claimed, "According to the results of the audit, Mr. A has stepped down from his position as director, but he is still leading the operation while maintaining his position as founder," and added, "Mokpo Office of Education has been consistent with passive administration even four months after the second trial ruling."

He continued, “In a situation where there is a series of corruptions in private kindergartens, such as the recent arrest of the director of a kindergarten in Gwangju on charges of embezzlement of 900 million won, the Office of Education’s lukewarm response to the issue of the court ruling is giving impunity to the corrupt kindergarten and is causing distrust in the education administration.”

The citizens' group demanded public disclosure of violations, recovery of subsidies, imposition of additional sanctions, review of orders to suspend and close kindergarten operations, and conducting a special audit of the accounting of all private kindergartens.

In response to this, the Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special Metropolitan Office of Education explained that it received a partial refund of school fees first and requested a full refund by the end of 2027.

An official from the Unified Office of Education said, "With the court ruling confirmed, we are pursuing procedures to announce violations in accordance with related laws. We will strengthen accounting management and supervision of private kindergartens to prevent similar cases from recurring."