Nominee for Minister of Education and Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs, Choe Kyo-jin. Yonhap News
 The responsibilities of the Ministry of Education are clear: nurturing talent for future generations, establishing educational policies based on a free democratic system, and building a knowledge base to enhance national competitiveness. However, Choe Kyo-jin, the nominee for Minister of Education put forward by the Lee Jae-myung administration, appears to be a figure who directly betrays all these tasks.

His trajectory began with "anti-government struggle," but over time, it culminated not in the "expansion of free democracy" but in the "strengthening of leftist ideology." While he advocated for anti-dictatorship democratization during his university days, he has repeatedly made choices in the education field and on the political stage that weaken the foundation of free democracy rather than protect it.

The allegations of plagiarism in his thesis are fatal for an educator. His master's thesis, submitted in 2006, was full of unauthorized excerpts from blogs and newspaper articles, which effectively disqualified him from holding the top position at the Ministry of Education. How can someone who has abandoned academic integrity discuss the conscience of education?

However, a more serious issue is his family history.

His daughter, Ms. Choi, is known to have been an organizer for the "System Transition Movement Political Convention" and a permanent activist at the "Korea Labor Safety and Health Institute." As the names suggest, she has been active in organizations that deny South Korea's free market economic system and openly advocate for socialist restructuring.

Her husband, Mr. Oh, is a non-religious conscientious objector who refused military service and served a prison sentence.

This scenario is not unfamiliar.

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk collapsed due to his children's admissions irregularities, and former President Moon Jae-in was embroiled in family issues such as his son's preferential employment controversy and special treatment for his daughter and son-in-law. President Lee Jae-myung has lived a political life stained by "family risks" ranging from curses directed at his sister-in-law to issues involving his spouse, siblings, and in-laws. Now, nominee Choe Kyo-jin is attempting to follow the same path and take charge of South Korea's education.

The Minister of Education is not merely an administrative position. This person must possess the moral integrity and ideological conviction to be entrusted with the nation's children.

However, nominee Choe Kyo-jin has lost his academic integrity, and his family history openly reveals antipathy towards the free democratic system. This raises concerns that the Ministry of Education might be reduced to a "System Transition Ministry."

If an anti-system figure disguised as a "democracy activist" gains control of educational policy, schools will become not a breeding ground for citizens of a free democracy but a political training ground for instilling leftist ideology. This is a dangerous experiment that holds the nation's future hostage.

The Minister of Education must be appointed based on public trust. However, the current nominee, far from earning public trust, is only instilling deep distrust and fatigue in the public. It is a matter of minimal conscience for nominee Choe Kyo-jin to withdraw his candidacy. That is the only way to protect South Korean education.

Reference: Choe Kyo-jin was designated as the 71st democracy activist on June 18, 2003, during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, listed in the White Paper on Democracy Activists.

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