Cho Won, the son (26) of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk (58), who is accused of graduate school admission fraud, has undergone a written investigation by the prosecution.
According to the legal community on the 1st, at the request of the 5th Trial Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Min-ah), Cho Won submitted a written statement last month and expressed his position regarding the allegations of submitting false documents during his admission to Yonsei University graduate school. The statement reportedly also included the circumstances under which Cho Won voluntarily decided to return his master's degree from Yonsei University.
Previously, Cho Won was accused of submitting falsified documents during his application for the integrated master's and doctoral program in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Yonsei University in the first semester of 2018, including a forged internship certificate from the Seoul National University Public Interest and Human Rights Law Center, an internship certificate under the name of Representative Choi Kang-wook of the Democratic Party of Korea from a law firm, and a scholarship certificate from George Washington University. Cho Won expressed his intention to return his master's degree from Yonsei University through his father's legal counsel on the 10th of last month.
Currently, Cho Won and his sister Cho Min (32) are under investigation as accomplices in the admission fraud charges against their father, former Minister Cho Kuk, and their mother, former professor Jung Kyung-shim. Cho Won's charges are currently under suspension of the statute of limitations due to the ongoing appeal trial of former Minister Cho Kuk, who is a co-defendant. For Cho Min, some of the charges' statute of limitations will expire on the 26th due to the Supreme Court's final conviction of former professor Jung.
The prosecution plans to decide whether to indict based on the attitudes of related parties before the expiration of Cho Min's statute of limitations. At that time, they may also conclude on the charges with suspended statutes of limitations, including those against Cho Won. On the 15th of last month, the prosecution summoned Cho Min to confirm any changes in her position regarding the charges. A prosecution official stated, "We plan to review the future direction of the investigation based on the contents of Cho Won's written statement."
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