Chosun University Investigates Allegations of Plagiarism in Hong Jin-young's Thesis... Degree Will Be Revoked if Proven True

Hong Jin-young "It Only Seems Like Excuses, So I'm Just Upset" Expresses Unfair Feelings

Singer Hong Jin-young / Photo by IMH Entertainment

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Ju-hyung] Chosun University has decided to proceed with a verification process regarding singer Hong Jin-young's thesis plagiarism allegations.

The Graduate School Committee of Chosun University, established to handle the plagiarism allegations against Hong Jin-young, announced on the 13th that it has requested the Research Integrity Committee under the University Research Ethics Institute to investigate whether Hong Jin-young's master's thesis constitutes plagiarism.

Chosun University stated, "Hong has denied plagiarism while offering to return her master's and doctoral degrees, so the Research Integrity Committee will follow procedures to determine whether plagiarism occurred," adding, "We will respond to the plagiarism allegations as swiftly, strictly, and decisively as possible."

If the investigation confirms that Hong Jin-young's master's thesis is plagiarized, Chosun University plans to revoke her master's and doctoral degrees.

Previously, Hong Jin-young received her master's degree from the Department of Trade at Chosun University in 2009 with a thesis titled "A Study on Trends in the Cultural Content Industry through the Korean Wave."

In 2012, she earned her doctoral degree from the same graduate school. The thesis has recently come under suspicion of plagiarism after 11 years.

Recently, Kukmin Ilbo reported that an examination of the thesis using the plagiarism detection site "Copykiller" showed a plagiarism rate of 74%.

However, the question of whether Hong Jin-young's thesis is plagiarized cannot be conclusively determined before an official verification.

Hong Jin-young's agency, IMH Entertainment, stated in an official position regarding the Copykiller results, "The Copykiller system has been mandatorily used by universities since 2015," and pointed out, "Since the thesis was reviewed in 2009 before this system existed, the plagiarism rate is inevitably high when checked now."

They added, "Although misunderstandings may arise, we convey the opinion of the reviewing professor that it cannot be considered plagiarism, and we have reconfirmed with the artist herself that aside from cited content and references, Hong Jin-young did not plagiarize any research content."

Hong Jin-young also expressed her frustration on her Instagram, stating about the plagiarism allegations, "Parts that passed without issue at the time are now judged by just a few percentage points, so no matter what I say, it can only be seen as an excuse, which is frustrating and upsetting."

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