Former Attorney General Cho Kook answers reporters’ questions while attending his fourth trial held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul last July. Hankook Ilbo data photo
Regarding the cancellation of admission of Cho Min, the daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kook, who is suspicious of fraudulent admission to Pusan National University Medical Graduate School (all medical doctors), the Ministry of Education published a legal review that the admission can be canceled according to the university regulations.
Kwak Sang-do, a member of the National Assembly’s Board of Education, revealed the results of a review of the law on the cancellation of admission for Cho Min, received from the Ministry of Education on the 23rd. Earlier on the 16th, Rep. Kwak requested the Ministry of Education to “consider legal review (related to cancellation of admission)” at the general meeting of the Education Commission.
According to the answer, the Ministry of Education said, “This is an unusual case in which an investigation before the Ministry of Education’s audit was initiated and a trial was conducted, and could become an important criterion in the future if a similar situation occurs.” As to whether admission can be canceled prior to the final judgment of the court, he said, “It is possible for the university to investigate the facts related to the suspicion related to the entrance examination and take a series of measures separately from the criminal trial.” Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Eun-hye and Minister of Education said several times that Cho Min said, “It is the authority of the principal to cancel admission” regarding the cancellation of admission to all Busan National University doctors.
However, I saw that it is not possible to cancel Cho’s admission immediately. According to the revised Higher Education Act in effect in June of last year, if false data were submitted for admission, the university should cancel the admission, but in the case of Mr. Cho who entered the 2015 school year, it was considered that “it is applied retrospectively, and thus cannot be applied”. The Ministry of Education concluded, “However, it is possible to cancel according to the Pusan National University school regulations and application guidelines.”
Last year, the court admitted the fact that Jo’s mother, Professor Kyung-Shim Chung, submitted forged documents in order to pass her daughter’s medical service in the first trial. However, Pusan National University has adhered to the position of deciding whether to cancel admission after the final judgment of the court, and in this regard, the Ministry of Education received a report from Pusan National University on the future plans for the allegations of illegal admission of Cho Min. The contents of the report are reported to include the regulations and guidelines for cancellation of admission to Pusan National University requested by the Ministry of Education, previous cases of cancellation of admission, investigation of facts on Mr. Cho, and plans for future action such as holding a related committee. The Ministry of Education will review the report sent by Pusan National University and announce its position this week.
Yunjoo Lee reporter [email protected]
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