Jung Kyung-shim Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison and Detained... Guilty of Admission Fraud (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Jung Kyung-shim, a professor at Dongyang University and wife of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was indicted on charges related to her child's admission fraud and private equity fund investment, was sentenced to four years in prison in the first trial and was detained in court.

On the 23rd, the Criminal Division 25-2 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Im Jeong-yeop, Kwon Seong-su, Kim Seon-hee) sentenced Professor Jung to four years in prison and a fine of 500 million won. Following the prison sentence, Professor Jung was detained in court and is scheduled to be held at the Seoul Southern Detention Center.

On this day, the court pointed out regarding the admission fraud charges, "Considering the motive and purpose of the crimes that extended from university admissions to medical school admissions, the nature of the crimes is very bad." The court recognized all charges as guilty, judging that the first authorship of the Dankook University thesis and the Dongyang University certificate of commendation were all forged.

The private equity fund investment charges centered on the allegation that Professor Jung invested 1 billion won in Cho Beom-dong, a fifth cousin of former Minister Cho Kuk, and embezzled approximately 157 million won of Korlink PE funds under the pretext of profit. The charges also included submitting false reports to financial authorities, claiming that an additional 1.4 billion won was paid into the Blue Fund managed by Korlink PE and that the investment capital was about 10 billion won. However, the court acquitted her of the false reporting related to the Blue Fund investment capital, judging that the false reports were acts of Korlink PE's management staff and it was difficult to recognize Professor Jung's involvement.

Additionally, some stock trading activities were acquitted, considering that it was difficult to see that Professor Jung herself directly purchased some of the shares.

On this day, the court stated, "As the wife of a high-ranking public official, she had a legal obligation to faithfully report her assets under the Public Officials Ethics Act, but she committed illegal acts of concealing criminal proceeds by using others," and added, "When the investigation began, she instructed the deletion of related materials and concealed evidence, making it difficult to uncover the facts and obstructing the actual investigation and trial."

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