First Lady Kim Geon-hee's 'Thesis Plagiarism' Sookmyung Women's University Review Results Released

Notification at the end of last month, two years after the main investigation
Objections must be filed within 30 days

The Research Ethics and Integrity Committee of Sookmyung Women's University has reportedly notified Mrs. Kim Geon-hee of the results regarding the plagiarism allegations of her master's thesis, as confirmed on the 7th. However, the specific details of the verification results that were communicated have not been disclosed.

Yonhap News quoted Sookmyung Women's University on the 7th, reporting that the university's Research Ethics and Integrity Committee informed Mrs. Kim of the main investigation results at the end of last month. They also guided that any objections would be collected by the end of this month.

The Research Ethics and Integrity Committee of Sookmyung Women's University notified Ms. Kim Geon-hee's side of the results regarding the plagiarism allegations in her master's thesis on the 7th. Photo by MBC

According to the regulations of Sookmyung Women's University’s Research Ethics Committee, the main investigation, including the judgment, must be completed within 90 days from the start date of the investigation. Once the thesis verification results are finalized, both the whistleblower and the investigated party are notified, and they may file objections within 30 days from the date of notification.

However, it is understood that the university did not inform the whistleblower, the president of the Sookmyung Democratic Alumni Association, who raised the plagiarism suspicions, of the main investigation results.

Sookmyung Women's University told Yonhap News, "If Mrs. Kim raises objections, the Research Ethics Committee plans to review them and then issue the final results."

Previously, Mrs. Kim had faced allegations that her master's thesis submitted in 1999 to the Graduate School of Education at Sookmyung Women's University, titled "A Study on the Characteristics of Paul Klee's Paintings," contained plagiarized content. The plagiarism allegations against Mrs. Kim's thesis surfaced through media reports at the end of 2021, ahead of the 20th presidential election. Subsequently, Sookmyung Women's University formed a Research Ethics Committee in 2022 and began a preliminary investigation, starting the main investigation in December of the same year.

According to research ethics regulations, the main investigation must begin within 30 days after approval of the preliminary investigation results and be completed within 90 days from the start date. However, this verification took about two years, drawing criticism. Moon Si-yeon, president of Sookmyung Women's University, who campaigned on verifying Mrs. Kim's thesis, was inaugurated in September last year with overwhelming support from students, but the process has since been criticized for being slow. Related controversies regarding procedural delays have also been raised.

Sookmyung Women's University is reportedly taking the position that it is difficult to definitively say when the objection procedure will conclude and how long it will take until the final results are confirmed.