Jung Kyung-shim Sentenced to 4 Years in Second Trial... Court Says "Undermined Fair Admissions and Market Economy" (Comprehensive)

Professor Jeong Gyeong-sim, Dongyang University / Photo by Jang Jin-hyung, reporter aymsdream@

[Asia Economy reporters Seongpil Jo and Daehyun Kim] Professor Jung Kyung-shim of Dongyang University was sentenced to prison again in the appeal trial on the 11th. She was indicted on 15 charges including admission fraud involving her children and illegal investment in private equity funds, and was sentenced to four years in prison in the first trial, remaining in custody during the trial. The appellate court found all charges related to admission fraud guilty, as in the first trial. Although there were some differences regarding the private equity fund and evidence destruction charges compared to the first trial, most of the charges were also ruled guilty.

The Criminal Division 1-2 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Eom Sang-pil) sentenced Professor Jung to four years in prison and a fine of 50 million won at the sentencing hearing that morning. They also ordered a confiscation of 10.61 million won. Compared to the first trial, the sentence was maintained, but the fine and confiscation amount were somewhat reduced. The court pointed out, "The defendant continues to make claims that are difficult to consider reasonable in light of objective physical evidence and credible testimonies from related parties."

The court first upheld the original judgment that all of the so-called "seven major false credentials" of Jung’s daughter, Cho Min, were false. The internship certificates from Seoul National University’s Public Interest and Human Rights Law Center and the Busan Aqua Palace Hotel were forged in collusion with former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, and the internship confirmations from Kongju National University, Dankook University, and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) were falsely issued at Professor Jung’s request, maintaining the original court’s judgment.

Regarding the private equity fund allegations, the court found that Professor Jung used undisclosed information obtained from Cho Beom-dong, a fifth cousin of former Minister Cho, to trade stocks and gain an unfair profit of 10 million won. This was because the court acquitted all 120,000 shares purchased off-market but found guilty only for the on-market purchases. In the first trial, 100,000 of the 120,000 off-market shares were deemed violations of the Capital Markets Act, concluding that Professor Jung gained an unfair profit of 230 million won. However, the appellate court agreed with the original judgment on the charge of nominee transactions intended to conceal assets.

The charge of instructing evidence concealment, which was acquitted in the first trial on the grounds that Kim Kyung-rok, the asset manager of former Minister Cho and his wife, was a co-perpetrator, was overturned. The appellate court ruled that Professor Jung was not a co-perpetrator with Kim. Instead, it found that Kim concealed evidence under Professor Jung’s instructions, meaning she was an instigator. The court described Professor Jung’s actions as an "abuse of the right to defense."

Regarding sentencing for the admission fraud charges, the court stated, "The defendant has undermined society’s trust in the fairness of the admission system," and "Considering the content and methods executed by the defendant, the process of obstructing admission screening was very poor, indicating a bad nature of the crime." On the private equity fund-related sentencing opinion, the court criticized, "It caused distrust in the securities market and damaged the market economic order." Concerning the evidence destruction charges, the court pointed out, "When investigations into herself and her family began, she used her superior position to make it difficult to discover the substantive truth by instructing people who found it hard to refuse her orders."

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