{"id":259590,"date":"2026-05-07T00:03:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/uncategorized\/2026\/05\/07\/seouls-education-chief-election-is-the-direct-election-system-failing\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:03:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:03:24","slug":"seouls-education-chief-election-is-the-direct-election-system-failing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/politics\/2026\/05\/07\/seouls-education-chief-election-is-the-direct-election-system-failing\/","title":{"rendered":"Seoul&#8217;s Education Chief Election: Is the Direct Election System Failing?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Translation result<\/p>\n<div class=\"videoWrap\">\n<div class=\"video\" ynvideowrap>\n  <video id=\"videoPlayer\" width=\"820\" height=\"460\" poster=\"https:\/\/media.yonhapnewstv.co.kr\/article\/MYH\/20260506\/MYH20260506225538GLN.jpg\" oncontextmenu=\"return\" false; controls=\"controls\" controlslist=\"nodownload\"><source src=\"https:\/\/media.yonhapnewstv.co.kr\/article\/MYH\/20260506\/MYH20260506225538GLN_700M1.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\"><\/video>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> [Anchor]<\/p>\n<p>The dispute over candidates for Seoul\u2019s superintendent of education shows no sign of subsiding.<\/p>\n<p>As legal challenges to the unification process and independent candidacies multiply, critics say the current direct-election system for superintendents is revealing its limits.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Lee Ji-hyun.<\/p>\n<p>[Reporter]<\/p>\n<p>The race for Seoul\u2019s superintendent, held alongside local elections, is intensifying.<\/p>\n<p>With less than a month until the vote, conflicts over candidate unification are disrupting the contest.<\/p>\n<p>On April 23, progressive groups selected Jeong Geun-sik as their unified candidate through a citizen panel vote. But two primary challengers who rejected the result\u2014Han Man-joong and Kang Shin-man\u2014have announced independent runs.<\/p>\n<p>On the conservative side, the unity that produced Yoon Ho-sang, an adjunct professor at Hanyang University, unraveled after former lawmaker Cho Jeon-hyeok registered as an additional candidate.<\/p>\n<p>A new unification body plans to pursue a second round of consolidation through mutual agreement among candidates, but Yoon has strongly opposed that effort.<\/p>\n<p>Observers point to the direct-election system for superintendents as a root cause of these fractures.<\/p>\n<p>Introduced in 2007 and now in its 20th year, the direct-election system excludes party nominations to preserve political neutrality.<\/p>\n<p>That exclusion has led civic groups from different camps to form ad hoc private bodies to select unified candidates. Because those arrangements have no legal binding force, they frequently break down, critics say.<\/p>\n<p>These conflicts recur every election cycle. Many argue the system no longer reflects political realities and needs reform.<\/p>\n<p>Suggested alternatives include a party endorsement system or a running-mate arrangement similar to how governors or mayors run with designated partners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithin a year or two, the National Assembly should form a special committee to review the direct-election system for superintendents,\u201d said Kim Yong-il, chairman of the Korea Education Policy Institute. \u201cWe need to actively consider alternatives such as a running-mate system and other options.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Efforts to keep education insulated from politics have paradoxically created a political arena that sidelines substantive debate over education policy.<\/p>\n<p>This is Lee Ji-hyun for Yonhap News TV.<\/p>\n<p>[Video footage: Moon Won-chul]<\/p>\n<p>[Video editing: Choi Yoon-jung]<\/p>\n<p>Yonhap News TV \u2014 For inquiries or tips: KakaoTalk\/LINE jebo23<\/p>\n<p>Lee Ji-hyun (ji@yna.co.kr)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conflicts over the Seoul education superintendent election persist, revealing limitations of the current direct election system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/cdn-union.tenbizt.com\/contents\/crawler-dev\/thumbnail\/2026\/05\/CP-2023-0139\/thumb-e458fd62-c388-4b4d-a915-7269b169d96e.jpg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278093],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Seoul&#039;s Education Chief Election: Is the Direct Election System Failing?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Conflicts over the Seoul education superintendent 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