“There’s even a waitlist” ... Questions over expertise amid popularity of Jung Kyung-mi’s English-language musical theater academy

[Financial News]  TV personality Jung Kyung-mi is said to have a waitlist for admission to the English-language musical theater academy she runs in Songdo, Incheon. An update showing that the academy was running smoothly prompted some online users to question Jung’s expertise, dividing opinions.
A video released on the YouTube channel “Yoon Hyung Bin’s One-Punch Man” on the 28th showed the interior and operations of the English-language musical theater academy Jung Kyung-mi runs in Songdo, Incheon.
In the video, Jung showed the facilities to her husband, Yoon Hyung Bin, in her role as the academy’s director. As she showed him the classrooms one by one, she pointed to a keyboard and said, “This was the only gift my husband gave me when I opened the academy.”
She also showed Yoon photos of a performance featuring the academy’s students. When Yoon expressed surprise at how polished it was, Jung said, “There are so many children at the academy that we brought in a makeup artist,” adding, “We made all the costumes and props ourselves.”
She said there were also students waiting to enroll. “To be honest, there’s a waiting list,” Jung said. “I enjoy being an academy director.”
Speaking about how things are now, a year and a half after the academy opened, she said, “Now that a year and a half has passed, I’ve gotten much more used to it, and there are many parents who support the academy.” She added, “You just have to make sure the children are safe. I’m happiest when I’m working.”
After the video was released, some online users questioned whether Jung had majored in English or a field related to musicals. They argued that operators of academies teaching those subjects should also have relevant expertise.
Others, however, said academy management should be distinguished from teaching. Jung could handle the operations while instructors who majored in English and musicals taught the students, they argued, so the quality of instruction could not be judged solely on the director’s major.
Under current law, an academy director is not required to hold a degree related to the subjects taught or to have majored in a relevant field. Article 6 of the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons sets out registration requirements, including facilities and equipment, while Article 9 specifies grounds for disqualifying academy founders and operators. The law does not, however, prohibit someone from establishing or operating an academy solely because they did not major in a related field.
If a director teaches students directly, however, they must meet separate instructor qualification requirements. Article 13 of the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons and Annex 3 of its Enforcement Decree set out the standards for instructors who actually teach classes.
Instructor qualifications at academies that teach school subjects include “a person who has graduated from a junior college or has an educational background at an equivalent or higher level,” among others. These requirements do not stipulate that an instructor’s university major must match the subject they teach.
Academy founders and operators are also required by relevant laws to post information about instructors’ educational backgrounds, majors, work experience and other details.
Jung Kyung-mi began her broadcasting career in 2005 as part of KBS’s 20th open-recruitment cohort of comedians. She married comedian Yoon Hyung Bin in 2013, and they have a son and a daughter.

[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter