Graffiti on the walls of Dongduk Women's University reads "opposed to coed" on Wednesday. (Newsis)
Graffiti on the walls of Dongduk Women's University reads "opposed to coed" on Wednesday. (Newsis)

Dongduk Women’s University President Kim Myeong-ae has been referred to the prosecution last month on suspicion of embezzling school funds, with the college on Thursday releasing a statement denying the accusations.

Seoul’s Jongam Police Station recently sought charges against Kim for using the university’s general education budget to cover expenses unrelated to education, including legal consulting and litigation fees.

The education budget, funded largely by tuition and donations, is legally required to be used for the benefit of students and faculty. Under the Private School Act, legal costs unrelated to education must instead be borne by the school’s foundation.

The university denied the allegations late Thursday, insisting the disputed expenditures were tied to school operations.

“All legal expenses in question were incurred only after receiving legal counsel on whether the expenditures were legitimate,” the university said. “It is clear these costs were not for the president’s personal matters but were related to the management of the university.”

The legal expenses listed by the school included fees for “legal responses to the occupation of educational facilities.”

Dongduk Women’s University experienced internal turmoil in November last year when students protesting its plan to transition to a coeducational system staged a sit-in, prompting the administration to file police complaints against some participants.

The university added that a political party had previously accused it of illegally spending legal fees over the past decade, filing complaints against several executives and staff. Most of those cases were dismissed, the school said, adding that “in the president’s case as well, most allegations were dropped, with only a very small number forwarded to prosecutors.”

This is in reference to the Women’s Party, a minor liberal party that filed a complaint in December 2024 against Kim and six other university employees. It claimed that the accused individuals are misusing school funds.

Police did not refer the other employees to prosecutors.

Dongduk Women’s University has been subject to controversy concerning the student protests in 2024, which led to substantial damages to school property and related litigation.

The protests were touched off by complaints over the school's plans to transition to a coeducational system, which were confirmed in an official statement Wednesday to complete the conversion by 2029.


seungku99@heraldcorp.com