Pusan National University (PNU) announced on Tuesday (24 Aug) that it will nullify its admission of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s daughter into its medical school in 2015 after her mother was found guilty in academic fraud case.

The Vice President of PNU, Kimg Hong-won, said in a press conference that the school’s decision to cancel Cho Min’s admission to its Graduate School of Medicine six years ago was made following an internal investigation panel that probed the admission process of Cho as well as analysed a recent appellate court’s ruling where her mother was convicted of committing several counts of fraud to help her daughter get into college and graduate schools.

“The admission guidelines used at the time said an applicant will reject if any material submitted is untrue,” said Kim.

29-year-old Cho is the daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and Chung Kyung-sim, 59-year-old English-language professor at Dondyang University.

Earlier this month (11 Aug), the Seoul High Court upheld the district court’s ruling and sentenced Chung to four years in prison after she was found guilty of all charges related to the unfair college admission of her daughter, including for PNU’s medical school.

According to court documents, Chung was convicted for forging a presidential citation from Dongyang University and for getting a false internship certificate to use for her daughter’s admission to the PNU medical school.

The younger Cho first enrolled to Korea University in 2010 and had graduated in 2014. She was later admitted to PNU’s medical school in 2015 and is expected to graduate this year.

She also passed the state medical licensing exam earlier this year, and is currently working as an intern at Hanil Genral Hospital, managed by the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation, also known as Kepco.

It was said that PNU’s decision is a preliminary administrative measure. Kim noted that it will take about three months to formally revoke her admission.

However, the decision to nullify Cho’s admission can be reversed if the Supreme Court overturns the High Court’s ruling on Chung, he said.

Besides PNU, Korea University is also reviewing High Court’s verdict to decide if it should cancel Cho’s admission as well.

Adding to the bad news, the country’s Ministry of Health & Welfare revealed on Tuesday that it will also start a follow-up administrative measure to revoke Cho’s medical license.

PNU’s decision to void Cho’s admission to the medical school means her medical degree can no longer be used as the required qualification to take the state medical license exam.

Chung found guilty of seven changes relating to daughter’s admission

An appellate court on 11 August upheld a four-year prison term for Chung for not only forging documents concerning her daughter’s admission to medical school, but also for other actions involving a private equity fund.

However, the Seoul High Court lowered Chung’s fine to 50 million won (S$57,853) and brought her forfeiture down to 10.61 million won (S$12,276). In December last year, the Seoul Central District Court had fined her 500 million won (S$578,528) and ordered her to forfeit 140 million won (S$161,988).

She was indicted in November 2020 on 15 charges, including falsifying official documents, obstruction of business, insider trading, embezzlement, and withholding evidence.

The court found her guilty of all the charges, where she worked with her husband to falsify awards and other official documents using the seal of a university president in 2021 in order to support her daughter’s medical school application from 2013 to 2014.

The court also found her guilty for some charges connected with the private equity fund.

“The accused got to see her daughter admitted to PNU’s medical school, while another applicant suffered the enormous loss of being rejected. Her crimes seriously undermined our society’s trust in the integrity and fairness of the school admission system,” said the high court.

Upon hearing the verdict, Chung’s defense called the ruling prejudiced, adding that it would appeal the case to the Supreme Court after further review.

However, the top court’s ruling is not expected to be any different as many of the facts have already been verified, the Korea Herald reported.

“The lower court ruling was prejudiced and was full of preconceptions rather than being logically sensible, so we expected to fix this during the appeal process,” Chung’s defense attorney Kim Chil-joon told reporters after the ruling.

“Today’s ruling is largely a repeat of what was sentenced in the lower court, which is shameful and regretful.”

Former Justice Minister indicated on charges of fraud, graft

Besides Chung, her husband is also embroiled in legal cases after he was previously indicted on dozen charges, including bribery, in 2019.

The senior Cho indictment came just two months after he resigned as the Minister of Justice over a scandal involving family investment as well as university admission of his children.

He was previously the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs from 2017 to 2019, before being appointed as Justice Minister by President Moon Jae-in on 9 September 2019.

His appointment resulted massive street protests for and against the President on a never-before-seen scale since 2017, damaging Moon’s public support ratings.

Cho faces a dozen charges, including bribery, document fraud, manipulation for evidence, and public service ethics law violations, said the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.

Cho will remain free as he stands trial.