Suspicion of 'Graduate School Admission Bribery'... Former President of Chung-Ang University Under Prosecutor Investigation

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] It has been reported that the former president of Chung-Ang University, who is suspected of requesting the selection of two high-ranking government officials during the graduate student selection process, is currently under investigation by the prosecution.

According to legal circles on the 9th, the Criminal Division 8 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hwan-gi) is investigating a case in which the Chung-Ang University Professors' Association (Professors' Association) filed a complaint against former Chung-Ang University President Kim for charges including obstruction of business by intimidation and attempted coercion.

The Professors' Association reported former President Kim to the prosecution last month, claiming that in 2013, during the selection of doctoral candidates for the Department of Trade and Logistics at the Business School, he sent a solicitation email to Professor A, a member of the screening committee, requesting to rank two individuals, including a high-ranking government official named Gu, within the top three. According to the Professors' Association, when Kim was vice president, he also called Professor A and said, "I will recommend good people, so please refer to their resumes and persuade the screening committee members to admit them."

It is known that Professor A subsequently conveyed Kim's solicitation to other screening committee professors. However, Mr. Gu and the other candidate received low evaluations and were pushed out of the top three, but since the number of successful candidates increased to five, both Mr. Gu and the other candidate were admitted.

Currently, the Professors' Association, based on its own investigation of the interview committee members at the time, judges that this is not a normal situation. On the other hand, Chung-Ang University states that the Department of Trade and Logistics is a popular department and that many candidates were admitted because it carries out government projects. In particular, regarding the allegations, the university maintains that they are "one-sided claims by the Professors' Association."

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