South Korea's first lady may lose her doctorate for plagiarism

South Korean First Lady Kim Keon Hee is likely to have her doctorate revoked after her master's thesis was found to contain plagiarism.

Portrait of South Korean First Lady Kim Keon Hee - Photo: NEWSIS

The Korea Times reported on January 15 that Kookmin University (also known as Korea National University) is considering revoking the doctorate degree of South Korean First Lady Kim Keon Hee, after Sookmyung Women's University recently concluded that Ms. Kim's master's thesis contained plagiarism.

Will proceed to review

Sharing with the Korean daily Hankook Ilbo on January 14, an official from Kookmin University said the school would review Ms. Kim's doctorate if Sookmyung University revoked the First Lady's master's degree.

"If Sookmyung University officially revokes Ms. Kim's master's degree based on the investigation results, we will also convene a meeting to review the validity of her doctorate degree," Kookmin University's director of external affairs Lee Eun Hyung said.

If the First Lady of South Korea's master's degree is revoked, it would mean that Kim does not meet the qualifications required to enter a doctoral program.

According to Kookmin University regulations, students are only allowed to participate in the doctoral program when they have a master's degree or equivalent academic certificates.

However, Kookmin University can only proceed with reviewing Ms. Kim's doctorate once Sookmyung University officially revokes her master's degree. Even if the plagiarism finding is confirmed, some experts say this may not lead to the actual revocation of the degree.

Low recovery ability

According to observers, the possibility of Kookmin University revoking Ms. Kim's doctorate is not high, especially when looking back at how the school has dealt with Ms. Kim's plagiarism allegations.

Specifically, in 2022, Kookmin University reviewed four of Kim's academic papers, including her doctoral dissertation, and concluded that three showed no signs of research misconduct.

With the remaining questionable paper, the school came to a controversial conclusion later saying it was unsuitable for assessment.

However, when Ms. Kim's thesis contained several errors, including mistranslating the term "membership retention" (referring to maintaining the number of members in an organization, club, or service) as "member Yuji", in which "Yuji" is the Korean transliteration of "retention", Kookmin University considered these errors to be minor and insignificant.

Mr. Kim Ji Yong, chairman of the executive board of Kookmin University, who was appointed as a witness in the National Assembly 's examinations into Ms. Kim's plagiarism allegations in 2022, did not participate in the examinations for three consecutive years, citing overseas business trips.

Earlier, on January 8, the Sookmyung Women’s University investigation committee completed a two-year investigation and concluded that Ms. Kim’s master’s thesis contained plagiarism. The university informed both Ms. Kim and the original whistleblower of this conclusion.

Unless either party intends to appeal within 30 days, this decision will be final.

Based on that, the school's ethics committee may recommend sanctions, including revocation or revision of the thesis and notification to relevant journals, or revocation of the degree.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/de-nhat-phu-nhan-quoc-co-the-bi-mat-bang-tien-si-vi-dao-van-20250115123843265.htm