“Doctor’s children are special?”… Controversy over remarks by Jeollabuk-do lawmaker Lim Jong-myeong

(Jeonju = Yonhap News) Reporter Chae-du Lim = Jong-myeong Lim (Namwon 2), a member of the Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Provincial Council, is controversial because he made a statement that seemed to directly violate the 'equal education' stipulated by the Constitution.

According to the Provincial Council on the 13th, Representative Lim expressed his welcome for the location of the National Graduate School of Medicine (National Medical School) being set in Namwon while conducting an administrative audit with Namwon Education Superintendent Kang Yang-won the previous day.

When asked about the Namwon Office of Education's policy in this regard, Superintendent Kang responded, "We will rebuild Namwon's educational ecosystem. Since the National Medical Center is located in Namwon, we will prepare career education and career exploration programs in these fields, such as health, medicine, and agricultural biotechnology."

The statement in question came later.

Rep. Lim said, "About 120 doctors are expected to come, and including students, there will be about 500 within 10 years. Since many of the graduate students are married, I think we need to establish a special education policy for children."

At the same time, he asked, "Since doctors' children are special, please carefully review the parents' choices to ensure that they are not neglected in situations where they are responsible for the children's future and have no choice but to make a choice."

In effect, it conveyed the 'specialness' of doctors' children and requested an appropriate education policy.

This can also be interpreted as a statement that directly violates Article 31 of the Constitution, which stipulates that 'all citizens have the right to equal education according to their abilities.'

The education community is of the position that the remarks made by an elected official are highly inappropriate.

Park Seon, Jeonju president of the Parents' Association for True Education, said, "This is a statement that clearly shows the bizarre behavior of vested interests," and criticized, "The fact that he made an official statement in a public place shows how unfiltered his mental state is."

He continued, “As someone who raises children and works as an after-school teacher, it is very inconvenient to have made such a request to the Namwon Office of Education,” and added, “I don’t think the provincial council member in question knows that it is a mistake.”

Oh Do-young, head of the Jeonbuk branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, said, "It is not easy to understand the statement that doctors' children are special. I know that there are some provincial council members who are far from education, but sometimes they make remarks that are unreasonable. I had no idea such remarks were made."

He went on to say, “Wouldn’t it have been enough to say that I would like to help the children of doctors settle down (in Namwon) well?” and emphasized, “Education must be equal.”

An education official who heard this remark also criticized, saying, “With that remark, children who are not under the control of doctors have become less special,” adding, “It was especially not something that should come out during an educational administration audit.”

In response, Rep. Lim admitted that he had made such a statement, but explained it as a 'misunderstanding'.

In a phone call with Yonhap News, he said, "The doctors and graduate students who come to Namwon are bright, so I wanted to ask them to establish (education policy) according to the characteristics of the region to determine what help will be provided to their children."

He added, “Doctors and graduate students are special, so we should prepare (education) specially,” adding, “It did not mean that their children are special.”