Despite a rising chorus of demands that President Suh Nam-pyo take responsibility for a string of suicides this year at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kaist) and resign, Suh insisted he was staying on the job yesterday.

“I will accept criticism,” Suh said at National Assembly’s Education, Science and Technology Committee. “But I don’t have any intention to resign.”

Suh said he will abolish the scholarship policy he launched in 2007 that rescinds scholarships for students whose grade point average dips below 3.0, which some analysts and students said was behind the four student suicides this year.

“I will repeal the scholarship policy,” Suh said. “And as president of the university, who should take responsibility for protecting the safety of students, I apologize for the tragedies to all people in Korea, regardless of the reasons for the suicides.” 

Suh said he would also boost counseling services on campus for depressed students. “And I am also mulling the policy of conducting lectures in English only,” Suh said.

Lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties barraged Suh with questions yesterday, such as whether his policies actually raised standards at the elite university. 

Kwon Young-jin of the Grand National Party said, “I have recently phoned a student counseling center at Kaist, but the official contact number was wrong. Suh should regret neglecting the emotions of his students and take steps immediately.”

Kim Sang-hee of the Democratic Party said, “Suh should end his competition-oriented reforms and step down to allow a new start for Kaist.” 

Meanwhile, Kaist’s student council convened an emergency meeting on the campus in Daejeon yesterday and collected opinions from students about Suh’s policies. The professors’ association at Kaist will also hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss a call for Suh’s resignation.

“If Suh changes his management style, we accept it,” Gyeong Jong-min, president of the association, said, “but if he continues his current ways, we will hold a meeting in the future and make decisions stronger than today’s.”

In January, a 19-year-old freshman died on the school’s campus after taking an overdose of sleeping pills. On March 20, a 19-year-old sophomore was found dead in a flower garden in front of an apartment in Suwon, Gyeonggi, after leaving a suicide note. Nine days later, a 25-year-old senior jumped from the 12th story of an apartment building in southern Seoul. On April 7, a 19-year-old sophomore was found dead in front of an apartment in Incheon.

And on Sunday, a 52-year-old professor hanged himself in his apartment in Daejeon, leaving behind a note. His note did not link his suicide with those of the students before him.

After Suh took office in 2006, he instituted ambitious plans in 2007 to raise the competitiveness of the university’s faculty and students, including the controversial scholarship policy.


By Kim Hee-jin [heejin@joongang.co.kr]