President Kim Hong-koo's Sudden Resignation

Controversy over the appointment of a new president

Editor-in-chief Ahn So-hyun

prevoyage@naver.com

I n late August, Busan University of Foreign Studies President, Kim Hong-koo, abruptly announced his resignation. President Kim was the first president elected through the indirect election system. However, he resigned after completing only two of his four years in office. The media reported that he resigned due to health problems. However, the interim evaluation of the president's job performance during last summer vacation resulted in a poor evaluation, which seems to have had a significant impact on Kim's resignation. When the faculty council of BUFS evaluated President Kim's ability to perform his duties, most of the evaluation areas resulted in negative reviews.

Instead of Kim, vice-president Shin Kyoo-jae took over the role of acting president. However, the foundation of BUFS announced a new presidential candidate 13 days after the acting president took office. His name is Jang Soon-heung and he was the president of Handong Global University. School members expressed dissatisfaction with the sudden announcement of the presidential candidate. The majority of people have taken the position that it was not right to unilaterally and undemocratically elect a new president. When selecting a new president, the foundation does not listen to the opinions of the university members, such as students and professors, at all and makes decisions while ignoring the opinions of students. The student body has also expressed strong dissatisfaction.

The foundation held a vision presentation for Jang Soon-heung on September 20. The presentation was attended by many people. Jang explained what he would do if he became the president, such as strengthening personality education, strengthening global education, and securing finances. The vice president of the student council asked candidate Jang why he decided to become president of our university. Candidate Jang replied that he was recommended by the chairman of the foundation. Unlike before, when the president was elected through elections, the foundation once again arbitrarily selected candidates for the president's role internally. The conflict between school members and the foundation is getting worse day by day, and a lot of attention is being paid to who will be the 11th president.