'Genius Boy' Song Yugun, Appeal to Cancel Expulsion Also Dismissed in Appellate Court

Song Yu-geun. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Min Jun-young] An appellate court ruling has upheld the legality of the expulsion of "prodigy boy" Song Yu-geun (22), who failed to obtain his doctoral degree within the designated period.

The Administrative Division 2 of the Daejeon High Court (Chief Judge Shin Dong-heon) dismissed Song's appeal on the 19th in the appeal case against the president of the University of Science and Technology (UST) seeking cancellation of his expulsion.

Song entered the integrated master's and doctoral program in Astronomy and Space Science at the UST Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute campus in March 2009 when he was 12 years old.

However, he faced difficulties including the replacement of his advisor due to a plagiarism controversy involving his thesis.

Ultimately, he was expelled for failing to obtain his doctoral degree within the maximum enrollment period of 8 years.

According to UST regulations, to receive a doctoral degree, students must publish at least one related paper in a Science Citation Index (SCI) journal after passing the doctoral dissertation examination during their enrollment period.

After receiving the expulsion notice from the school in September 2018, Song's side filed an administrative lawsuit, claiming that "due to the dismissal of the advisor, the actual period of education at UST was only 7 years."

At that time, the court stated, "Song also bears responsibility for the plagiarism controversy, and since the defendant appears to have made efforts to resolve this issue, the claim that the period should be excluded from the enrollment duration is not reasonable."

It further explained, "Passing the doctoral dissertation examination in 2015 does not mean that its effect continues indefinitely," concluding, "Therefore, the plaintiff's claim is without merit."

The appellate court also ruled, "The original judgment is proper, and the plaintiff's claims are unfounded," dismissing the appeal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.