“Applications for Law School to Be Refused at Current Quota”

Considerable protest has been aroused by the decision of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development to set the total intake quota of law schools at 1,500, as universities joined forces to push for an expansion.

As university presidents and law department deans announced that they would jointly refuse to apply for permission of the law school and would carry out a campaign for the resignation of the Minister of Education, the Ministry is carefully revising the measure to expand the quota.

The Korean Council for Presidents of Private Universities (director: Chairman of Sogang University Sohn Byung-doo) held an emergency meeting of deans at the President Hotel in which it revealed its plan to respond collectively.

“If the Ministry of Education fails to reflect the demand of universities to expand the quota to 3,200 when making another report to the National Assembly Committee on October 26, the Council will launch joint protests with all schools nationwide, including public universities,” said the Council.

The Law School Association, comprising the law department directors of universities preparing for law school and the Korea Council of Law Professors, also held a press conference at the rear gate of the Central Government Complex in Sejongno, Seoul, and announced their plan to refuse applications for permission to implement the decision in law schools. The press conference was attended by 14 law department directors, including those from Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, and Chung Ang University.

“If the government forcibly sticks to the law school policy that maintains the privilege of legal circles, universities will refuse to apply for permission. The Minister of Education and relevant Cheong Wa Dae officials should take responsibility and resign from office,” the Association urged.

The National Council of Law Department Deans adopted an emergency resolution and said, “We’ll refuse to apply for law school and respond firmly. We’ll struggle for the expansion of the quota through signatory campaigns for assemblypersons and interviews with presidential candidates.”

The Korean Council for University Education, chaired by SNU Lee Jang-moo, held a meeting on the same day and announced a resolution which said: “We urge the Ministry of Education to re-discuss the quota issue taking into account the opinions of universities, because the set quota contradicts the purpose of law school enforcement.” It will take step-by-step actions based on the National Assembly report on October 26.

Faced with the unexpected level of protest by universities, the Ministry of Education held a conference immediately following the National Assembly audit on October 17, in which it discussed whether to modify the quota. But since the vice-minister Kim Shin-il will be abroad from October 18 to 22, the conclusion will be drawn after October 23.

“Some asked whether we should not revise the method of calculating the total quota because the opposition was unexpectedly high, not only by universities but by the National Assembly as well,” said an official of the Ministry of Education. “The mood is that we should at least give it a shot though the quota is unlikely to be expanded greatly.”

But in a regular briefing Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Cheon Ho-seon said, “Cheong Wa Dae respects the decision of the Ministry of Education, and has an understanding that the decision was made upon comprehensive consideration of various issues.” Quota expansion discussions don’t appear to be easy.