Jin Joong-kwon "Park Ji-won Academic Fraud? Moonbbaes Won't Forgive"

Unified Party Raises Suspicion of Academic Credential Forgery Against Park Ji-won

Jin Joong-kwon, former professor at Dongyang University / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon sarcastically commented "This is a big problem" regarding the allegations of academic fraud against Park Ji-won, the nominee for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) director, raised by the United Future Party.

On the 22nd, Jin wrote on his Facebook, "(Nominee Park's) academic fraud is something that 'Moonbba' (ardent supporters of President Moon Jae-in) will never forgive," he said.

He added, "They may forgive sexual harassment, but academic fraud is unforgivable," and mocked, "Park Ji-won is in big trouble now. He will soon be marinated in seasoning."

On the same day, the United Future Party claimed to have found evidence that Park had falsified his academic records when transferring universities. They alleged that in December 2000, Park covered the section listing the university he attended before transferring, which originally stated Chosun University Department of Commerce, with Scotch tape and corrected it to Gwangju National University of Education on his academic transcript from Dankook University, where he graduated.

Park had previously attended five semesters at Chosun University in 1965 and was recognized for completion, allowing him to transfer to Dankook University. The claim is that if the university he attended before transferring was not Chosun University but Gwangju National University of Education, then Dankook University should have invalidated his admission.

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party (left), and Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the United Party, raised allegations of academic fraud against candidate Park Ji-won at the National Intelligence Service Director hearing advisory group meeting held at the National Assembly on the 22nd. / Photo by Yonhap News

Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee from the United Future Party, pointed out at the NIS director nominee hearing advisory panel meeting, "Gwangju National University of Education is a two-year college, so academically, transferring to Dankook University's Department of Commerce was impossible," and added, "Even if he transferred from Gwangju National University of Education, he would have had to attend Dankook University for three more years, but he only attended for three semesters."

He continued, "If the academic records were corrected to Gwangju National University of Education, he would have had to attend four more semesters to graduate from Dankook University, but the actual transfer date in September 1965 was retroactively changed to February," he added.

Ha criticized, "Graduating from Dankook University is also falsified, and claiming to have completed five semesters at Chosun University to enter Dankook University is also falsification," and urged, "Park, who has lived a life of forgery, should voluntarily resign."

In response to these claims, Park's side released a statement calling them "absurd and nonsense," explaining, "Graduation from Gwangju National University of Education and transfer and graduation from Dankook University are clearly confirmed by officially issued graduation certificates, and there can be no forgery."

Regarding the suspicion of alteration of the Dankook University academic transcript, they explained, "The nominee himself does not know how the Dankook University documents are handled," and added, "This is a university matter, and the nominee has nothing to clarify regarding errors that may have occurred during manual and computerized processing."

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