Yoon's alma mater cancels uniform mandate over school ties to alumni behind martial law order

Home > National > Politics

Yoon's alma mater cancels uniform mandate over school ties to alumni behind martial law order

Published: 06 Dec. 2024, 19:40

KIM JEE-HEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A letter sent to students of ChoongAm High School and their parents on Friday. The high school is President Yoon Suk Yeol's alma mater. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Students of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s alma mater ChoongAm High School will not be mandated to wear their uniforms to school until graduation as the school tries to protect them from public backlash due to a potential association of the school with the martial law declaration.

The school said in a letter sent to students and their parents Friday that it has decided to liberalize the dress code for students from Monday until the graduation ceremony takes place on Feb. 6 next year to prevent them getting unfair treatment from “citizens without common sense.”

A ChoongAm High School student told the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, that there have been instances when “someone threw eggs as I was passing the street” while some others swore after seeing the student wore the high school’s uniform, under condition of anonymity.

The school added in the statement that if “students are treated unfairly outside school, act calmly, and in cases where the counterpart’s actions are too much to handle, report it to the school or the police as soon as possible.”

There was speculation that alumni of ChoongAm including Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun were behind the martial law declared by Yoon Tuesday night.

Kim was Yoon's senior by one year.

Minister of Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min also graduated from the same high school, four years after the president. Yeo In-hyung, commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command who was allegedly involved in the imposition of martial law, also graduated from there nine years after Yoon.

BY KIM SEO-WON,LEE YOUNG-KEUN AND KIM JEE-HEE [[email protected]]