Controversy Over Mrs. Yoon Kim Gun-hee's Thesis... '회원 유지' Translated as 'member Yuji'

Kookmin University Launches Investigation into Allegations Surrounding Dr. Kim Geon-hee, Wife of President Yoon, Regarding Her Doctoral Dissertation

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol with his wife Kim Geon-hee at the ceremony to receive the appointment letter as Prosecutor General on July 25, 2019. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Allegations have been raised that there was misconduct in the doctoral dissertation research of Kim Geonhee, wife of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seokyeol, prompting Kookmin University to launch an investigation on the 7th. Kim’s dissertation recently became embroiled in plagiarism controversy.

On this day, Kookmin University announced that it has formed a Research Ethics Committee to begin a preliminary investigation into the allegations of research misconduct related to Kim’s dissertation and plans to review the entire process related to the thesis.

Previously, Kim received her doctoral degree from the Graduate School of Techno Design in 2008 with a dissertation titled . The thesis proposed 'Anita,' a fortune-telling content using avatars, and explained development plans for it.

However, some have raised plagiarism suspicions, claiming that a significant portion of the dissertation matches portal search results. It was pointed out that Kim directly cited posts uploaded on blogs and other internet sources.

Additionally, Kim’s academic paper published in 2007 in the 'Hanguk Design Forum' titled also sparked controversy.

This paper caused an uproar for rendering the Korean phrase '회원 유지' (membership retention) as 'member Yuji' in English. While '회원' was correctly translated as 'member,' '유지' was not translated but instead transcribed phonetically into English letters, which became problematic. Subsequently, some criticized the lax verification of the paper. The paper was supervised by Professor Jeon Seunggyu of Kookmin University’s Graduate School of Techno Design.

Regarding this, a professor at Kookmin University told 'OhmyNews,' "Kim’s doctoral dissertation and the academic paper co-authored by our university professor appear, frankly, embarrassing," adding, "Seeing that part of the title '회원 유지' was translated as 'member Yuji' in the English abstract of the dissertation, I even doubt whether the supervising professor properly read the thesis."

Meanwhile, Kookmin University’s Research Ethics Committee includes university-level officials and about ten external members, and plans to proceed to a full investigation after the preliminary inquiry. It is expected that the core issue will be whether plagiarism occurred in the dissertation.