'Busan National University President Cleared of Charges in Refusal to Cancel Jo Min's Admission'

Insufficient Evidence... Conclusion After 2 Years

Pusan National University Yangsan Campus College of Medicine building in Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan-si, Gyeongnam (former College of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine) [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office reportedly dismissed the case related to the cancellation of admission of Cho Min, daughter of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, to the Busan National University Medical School due to insufficient evidence on the 29th. This accusation was filed by a civic group against Jeon Ho-hwan, then president of Busan National University, in December 2019, claiming that not canceling Cho Min's admission despite suspicions of admission fraud constituted dereliction of duty. Although the facts related to Cho Min had already been revealed during the trial of former Dongyang University professor Jeong Gyeong-sim, the prosecution closed the case as no charges after two years.

According to legal circles, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office closed the case on the 25th with no charges regarding the complaint filed by the civic group Legal Action for Establishing the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) against former President Jeon for dereliction of duty and obstruction of business related to the cancellation of Cho Min's admission. The prosecution stated, "Both dereliction of duty and obstruction of business were dismissed due to insufficient evidence."

Previously, Cho Min applied to the Busan National University Medical School in 2014, submitting a self-introduction letter that included a certificate of commendation from Dongyang University and records of various internship activities. Through this, she was finally admitted to the medical school. In August 2019, following the 'Cho Kuk scandal' and the prosecution's findings that various career and award records of Cho Min were false, Beopse-ryeon filed a complaint against former President Jeon in December of the same year. The Busan National University Medical School's admission guidelines stipulate that admission will be canceled if forged documents are used, and the claim was that former President Jeon's failure to take any action constituted dereliction of duty and obstruction of admission duties.

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk's spouse, former Dongyang University professor Jeong Gyeong-sim
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The suspicion of admission fraud involving Cho Min was later included in the indictment against former Professor Jeong and was subject to court judgment. Both the first and second trial courts that handled Jeong's case concluded that all the 'seven major specs,' including the credentials Cho Min used for the 2014 Busan National University Medical School admission and her internship and assistant researcher activities at Dankook University, Seoul National University, and Dongyang University, were false. The first trial court specifically stated in its ruling that Cho Min's university grades ranked 24th out of 30 successful candidates in the first stage of the Busan National University Medical School admission process. It further ruled, "If Cho Min had not listed the Dongyang University president's certificate of commendation on her application and self-introduction letter and had not submitted the forged certificate, she would likely have received a lower score in the document evaluation and failed the first stage."

The prosecution's investigation reportedly made no progress after Lee Seong-yoon, head of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, took office as chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in January last year, shortly after the complaint was filed. The prosecution reportedly never conducted a single investigation of the complainant against Beopse-ryeon during this period. On the other hand, a separate case filed by Beopse-ryeon in October against current Busan National University President Cha Jeong-in for dereliction of duty has begun investigation by the Busan Police Agency, and complainant questioning was conducted last month. Beopse-ryeon argues regarding the complaint against President Cha that "refusing to cancel Cho Min's admission despite the admission fraud being virtually confirmed clearly constitutes dereliction of duty."

Earlier, Busan National University announced in August, following the second trial ruling against Professor Jeong, that it had decided to cancel Cho Min's admission to the medical school, but no final decision has been made even after four months. Meanwhile, Cho Min, who still holds a medical license, applied for a residency program at Myongji Hospital but was recently rejected in the final selection.