Kwak No-hyun, Seoul’s education superintendent, has drawn fire for a series of personnel decisions that critics say are based on cronyism or retaliation against his opponents.

In the latest of his controversial decisions, Kwak on Tuesday had his subordinate overseeing personnel affairs at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education transferred to an English training center in Seoul’s suburbs.

The abrupt transfer is widely seen by many SMOE employees as punishment for the leak of information to the media about Kwak’s recent personnel-related orders, including one to promote his secretaries and aides. The official is said to have defied those orders.

Kwak on Wednesday denied being vindictive against the official, saying: “The timing of his move caused some misunderstanding.”

Yoon Jae-hoon, spokesperson for the office, also said: “The position he was transferred to was the only vacancy available and he wanted the move.”

Local media recently revealed the liberal educator’s moves to augment his personal staff, which currently consists of four aides, one personal secretary and two administrative staff.

He sough to promote five of them from grade seven to six and hire two new grade-five aides.

“The superintendent is trying to turn the SMOE into his private enterprise,” the labor union for SMOE said in a statement. It also pointed out the unfairness of the promotions given to Kwak’s confidants, claiming that it would take 10 years for a regular employee to climb up a notch in rank.

Faced with the internal criticism, Kwak said he was dropping the promotion plan, but sticking to the new hiring.

The Education Ministry has stepped into the controversy, taking issue with another personnel decision made by Kwak.

The ministry on Tuesday demanded the education chief cancel his decision to hire three new teachers for public middle schools. The three -- a former staff member in Kwak’s camp during the 2010 superintendent race and two former private school teachers -- were selected under a special recruitment process, which the ministry said lacked transparency and fairness.

“It seems that the three were already chosen before the recruitment process began. This could dampen the morale of teachers and teacher aspirants,” said a ministry official, explaining its decision.

Kwak refuted that the selection process had no problems and said that he would ask the ministry to withdraw the request.

This is not the first that Seoul’s chief education administrator clashed with the ministry. He pushed for an ordinance intended at extending students’ rights on campus despite opposition from ministry officials. The ministry has taken the case to the Supreme Court to have it overturned.

Kwak is a highly divisive figure, with his liberal school reform ideas starkly dividing parents, teachers and the public.

He returned to work in January, nearly four months after he was arrested for buying a rival candidate out of the race to win the election. He was convicted of the charges and received a fine of 30 million won. He has appealed the case, insisting his innocence.

Kwak’s conservative opponents, who have called on him to resign, did not miss out on the chance to attack him.

“The superintendent, as soon as he returned to work after being convicted of election law violations, is doling out favors to his cronies,” said the conservative Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations in a statement.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)