Kim Geon-hee Receives Investigation Results on 'Sookdae Master's Thesis Plagiarism' After Two Refusals

If No Objection Is Filed by the 12th, Plagiarism Will Be Confirmed
If Master's Thesis Is Confirmed as Plagiarized, Doctoral Degree Will Also Be Reviewed

Amid two returns of the plagiarism investigation results on her master's thesis by Sookmyung Women's University, First Lady Kim Keon-hee, wife of President Yoon Suk-yeol, has recently accepted the documents, The Hankyoreh reported on the 1st.

First Lady Kim Keon-hee, wife of President Yoon Suk-yeol, recently received the plagiarism investigation results of her master's thesis from Sookmyung Women's University after returning them twice. Photo by Yonhap News

Kim's side received the postal mail containing the plagiarism investigation results from Sookmyung Women's University's Research Ethics Deliberation Committee on the 14th of last month. This was one day before the execution of the arrest warrant against President Yoon. According to the university's research ethics regulations, the investigated party has a 30-day period from the date of notification of the investigation results to file an objection. Therefore, if Kim's side takes no further action by the 12th, the master's thesis, which has been controversial for nearly three years, will be confirmed as plagiarized.

Previously, Kim faced allegations of plagiarism regarding her 1999 master's thesis submitted to Sookmyung Women's University Graduate School of Education titled "A Study on the Characteristics of Paul Klee's Paintings." The plagiarism allegations 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 to begin a preliminary investigation and started 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 process took about two years, drawing criticism. Two years after the main investigation began, at the end of last December, the committee concluded it was "provisionally plagiarism" and sent the results twice to Kim's side, but both were returned.

Kookmin University Also "Considering Revocation of Kim's Doctoral Degree"

Following Sookmyung Women's University's provisional conclusion of plagiarism on First Lady Kim Keon-hee's master's thesis, Kookmin University has also decided to consider revoking her doctoral degree. Kookmin University stated, "A doctoral degree cannot exist without a master's degree," and added, "If Sookmyung Women's University decides to revoke the master's degree, we plan to conclude on whether to revoke the doctoral degree as well." They also expressed their intention to review academic regulations, saying, "Plagiarism means the thesis is invalid, so we plan to examine the school regulations and related matters."

Kim received her doctoral degree from Kookmin University's Graduate School of Techno Design in 2008 with a thesis titled "A Study on the Development of Fortune-telling Content Using Avatars: Focusing on the Development and Market Application of 'Anita'." Earlier, in 2007, she was involved in controversy for writing the "member retention" section in English as "member Yuji" in another thesis.