Lawmakers question Changwon National University head over term-limit change, incorporation

At the National Assembly Education Committee audit held at Pusan National University on 21 October, lawmakers from both main parties questioned Changwon National University president Park Min-won (박민원) over a plan to allow him to serve a second term and over the university's push toward incorporation. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

People Power Party lawmaker Jeong Seong-guk (정성국) objected to the draft 'regulation on selecting presidential candidates' that the university announced on 16 October. The draft deletes the single-term provision from the four-year term clause and, through a supplementary clause, lets the current president run again. Jeong said the president was rewriting the election rules himself, that some people say this opens the way to long-term rule, and that it reminded him of the presidential re-election issue. He asked Park to consider the disgrace he could bear for seeking one more term. Park replied that the faculty council and member groups were reviewing the rule, and that he would accept the lawmaker's remarks humbly and look into the matter on returning to the university. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Seoul Economic Daily reported that Park's term runs to February 2028 and that the draft also includes a clause suspending a sitting president's duties if he runs again, from candidate registration until the selection date. The paper also reported that the university asked the faculty council on 8 October to review deleting a faculty council review clause, and that the regulation review committee approved the proposal 9 to 5 on 15 October. According to the paper, the rule needs faculty council review and the academic affairs council before the president promulgates it. A university official said the review committee can still act as a check. The paper reported that professors say its membership makes this hard. [ 3 ]

Seoul Shinmun reported that the faculty council opposes the change, calling it a privatisation and dictatorship of the national university, while the university administration says it is not meant to guarantee anyone a second term and widens members' choice and candidates' opportunity to run. [ 2 ]

Democratic Party lawmaker Baek Seung-ah (백승아) questioned the incorporation process. She said a past survey of members referred to a specialised science institute under the university, which she called fundamentally different from incorporating the whole university. She also cited criticism that incorporation is being pushed unilaterally as a pretext for the president's re-election. Asked whether he had consulted the Education Ministry or the science ministry, Park said he had not. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Baek also said the agenda of the public deliberation preparatory committee had been changed at the academic affairs council so that the option of keeping the current system was removed, leaving conversion or merger. Park said the committee would hear members' views and decide, and that nothing had been decided. Seoul Economic Daily quoted him as saying the committee starts next week and that deans proposed dropping the current-system option, which he said he did not remove personally. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

CBS NoCut News reported that in June, Park scaled back an incorporation or science institute conversion plan after the faculty council passed a no-confidence vote, and set up the preparatory committee. [ 4 ]