The Council of Sookmyung Women's University (Korea) met and approved additional regulations, allowing the revocation of previously granted degrees if serious fraud is detected, greatly affecting academic ethics standards.

Previously, the school’s regulations only allowed for the revocation of degrees issued after June 13, 2015, the date the current regulations came into effect. However, Ms. Kim received her master’s degree in 1999, so this was not applicable before.

The change, approved by the Academic Affairs Commission on June 9, closes a legal loophole that protected degrees awarded before 2015 from being reviewed, according to the Korea Joongang Daily .

The university confirmed it would convene an academic integrity committee to investigate whether Ms Kim's master's degree should be revoked under the revised regulations.

If Sookmyung Women's University were to revoke her degree, public opinion would likely shift to Kookmin University, where Kim received her doctorate and is also facing other allegations of academic misconduct.

First Lady of Korea.jpg
Kim Keon Hee, wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, appears after casting her vote in the presidential election at a polling station in Seoul on June 3. Photo: Yonhap

According to the Korea Times , the plagiarism allegations against Ms. Kim first surfaced in December 2021, when Mr. Yoon Suk Yeol - then a promising presidential candidate - was in the campaign phase. After the alumni association filed a complaint, the school opened a preliminary investigation in February 2022. By February of this year, the school concluded that Ms. Kim's master's thesis showed signs of plagiarism.

The final decision will be reviewed and voted upon by the school's Graduate Council.

Also on June 17, Ms. Kang Kyung-sook, a member of the Korean Progressive Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly , calling on Kookmin University to quickly revoke Ms. Kim Keon Hee's doctorate.

Ms. Kang said that revoking her master's degree could also invalidate the former First Lady's doctorate, as this is an entry requirement for the doctoral program.

According to the national academic verification team, consisting of 16 professors from 14 academic associations established since 2022, out of 860 sentences in Ms. Kim's doctoral thesis (submitted to the Graduate School of Design Technology, Kookmin University in 2008), up to 220 sentences were copied verbatim without citing the source.

"This is not just a personal matter, but clearly reflects the ethical standards and fairness in Korean academia. I hope Kookmin University and the Ministryof Education will take serious actions to restore academic trust," Ms. Kang emphasized.

Despite delaying the revocation of her doctorate for more than three years, citing the need for internal verification, Kookmin University is now said to be moving to revoke Ms. Kim's degree, following the same path as Sookmyung University.

“If the master’s degree (a prerequisite for pursuing a doctorate) is revoked, the doctoral degree will automatically be invalid. Therefore, we will proceed with the revocation process without amending the regulations,” said a Kookmin University official.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cuu-de-nhat-phu-nhan-han-quoc-co-the-sap-bi-thu-hoi-bang-vi-nghi-van-dao-van-2412297.html