Request for Verification Data on Transfer Admission Privilege Controversy
Allegations of Unfairness in Selection Process Raised
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Democratic Party lawmakers visited Kyungpook National University Hospital to request verification materials regarding the controversy over preferential transfer admissions for the children of Jeong Ho-young, nominee for Minister of Health and Welfare.
On the 15th, seven lawmakers from the Health and Welfare Committee and the Education Committee, including Kim Seong-ju, the Democratic Party's Health and Welfare Committee secretary, made a statement in front of the main building of Kyungpook National University Hospital located in Buk-gu, Daegu.
Kim Seong-ju, the Democratic Party secretary of the Health Committee, stated, "Today, lawmakers from the Democratic Party's Health and Welfare Committee and Education Committee visited Kyungpook National University Hospital and its medical school to intensively verify the facts related to various suspicions about preferential transfer admissions for the nominee's children and to request necessary verification materials."
Kim raised the issue, saying, "Suspicions related to the nominee's family are pouring out daily. The most public outrage is that both of Jeong's children, who held key positions at Kyungpook National University Hospital and served as directors, were admitted to the medical school through transfer admissions."
He continued, "The two children passed the Kyungpook National University Medical School transfer admission screening in the 2017 and 2018 academic years, when the nominee was serving as deputy director and director. The special admission track that the nominee's son passed was newly established in 2018. The public cannot help but doubt whether the selection process was fair given the successive transfers of children of professors holding key hospital positions," he said.
He added, "It has been revealed that the two children volunteered at the hospital between 2015 and 2016 before their transfer admissions. The nominee was working as the deputy director of Kyungpook National University Hospital, and the timing and location of the volunteer work coincide," he said. He emphasized, "Their volunteer records were reflected in the document evaluation for transfer admission, but it must be verified whether they actually performed the volunteer work."
Kim said, "There has been a so-called 'dad chance' controversy, suggesting that the two children built their credentials by leveraging their father with transfer admissions in mind. Today, we will meet with the president of Kyungpook National University, the hospital director, and the dean of the medical school to directly verify the facts of the suspicions and request materials to verify these allegations."
Following this, the lawmakers held a closed-door meeting in the hospital's main building with Hong Won-hwa, president of Kyungpook National University, Kim Yong-rim, director of Kyungpook National University Hospital, and Park Tae-in, dean of Kyungpook National University College of Medicine. They requested the university and hospital to submit materials related to the transfer admission screening of the nominee's children.
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