Student Rights Ordinance of South Chungcheong Province abolished for the 1st time in Korea

Chungnam provincial lawmakers vote on a bill to repeal the student rights ordinance on Thursday. Yonhap News Agency

The “Students’ Rights Ordinance of South Chungcheong Province,” which was revived two months ago, has finally been repealed. This is the first time in Korea that a student rights ordinance has been abolished. The South Chungcheong Province Office of Education is considering filing a lawsuit with the Supreme Court.

The South Chungcheong Provincial Assembly held the second plenary session of the 351st extraordinary session on April 24 and passed the “Reconsideration of the Ordinance on the Abolition of Students’ Rights Ordinance of South Chungcheong Province.” All 48 lawmakers attended the plenary session, with 34 voting in favor and 14 against. The request for reconsideration will pass the plenary session if a majority of lawmakers are present and more than two-thirds of them present agree.

The South Chungcheong Provincial Assembly consists of 32 lawmakers from the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP), 14 from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), and two independents. The decision to repeal the ordinance was made under the leadership of the PPP. At the plenary session, a lawmaker who had been suspended from attending was confirmed to have participated in the signing of the abolition bill, sparking controversy over the validity of the motion itself. DPK lawmakers took issue with the fact that independent Ji Min-kyu, who was suspended from attendance for 30 days for refusing to take a breathalyzer test, was named as a co-sponsor of the bill. The repeal bill was proposed on February 20, when Ji was suspended from attendance at the time. However, the PPP lawmakers argued that there is no problem in meeting the quorum of the proposal even if they exclude Ji, and that the plenary session was not a place to discuss the effectiveness of the bill itself, and the request for reconsideration was finally presented and processed.

On April 26, it was confirmed that the abolition of the Students’ Rights Ordinance would be presented to the Seoul Metropolitan Government Special Committee on Human Rights and Rights Improvement, which consists only of ruling party lawmakers. If the special committee votes to repeal the ordinance, it can also be proposed to the plenary session scheduled for the same day. According to an official notification of the special committee's agenda, the committee will deliberate on the abolition bill at its fourth meeting at 11 a.m. on the 26th. Currently, the committee consists of only 10 ruling party lawmakers. The repeal bill can be voted on even if only ruling party lawmakers participate in the vote.

An official from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said, "Since the special committee is held at 11 a.m. and the plenary session is at 2 p.m., we cannot rule out the possibility of passing the abolition bill with a rush on the same day."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.