Reinvestigation of Kim Geonhee's Thesis at Kookmin University, Ministry of Education's Statement Coming Soon

Ministry of Education to Soon Respond to Kookmin University Official Letter
Kookmin University Faculty Association to Hold Final Vote by 13th

The Ministry of Education will soon announce its position on the re-investigation of the doctoral dissertation of Kim Geon-hee, the wife of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who is affiliated with Kookmin University.

According to the Ministry of Education on the 12th, the ministry received a reply to its official letter from Kookmin University on the 8th, and it is expected to announce its position this afternoon. Earlier, the Ministry of Education had instructed Kookmin University to submit a plan for re-investigation regarding Kim's dissertation. Kookmin University has remained silent about the contents of its reply to the official letter, stating only that "a reply to the official letter has been submitted, and we are awaiting the Ministry of Education's position."

At the National Assembly audit on the 1st, Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Eun-hye also expressed the need for a re-investigation related to the plagiarism allegations and stated, "We will take follow-up measures according to principles and procedures."

In July, Kookmin University's Research Ethics Committee announced through a preliminary investigation committee that it would not conduct a full investigation because the verification period had expired. The Ministry of Education revised the "Guidelines for Securing Research Ethics" in 2011 to abolish the statute of limitations and recommended that each university do the same, using this as grounds to instruct Kookmin University to establish a re-investigation plan.

Members of Kookmin University are also urging a re-investigation of the dissertation. According to a total vote conducted by the Kookmin University Faculty Association, opinions were evenly split between actively responding (38.6%) and no need to respond (36.9%). The Faculty Association plans to hold a final vote on measures to respond to the plagiarism allegations by the 13th. However, since there are many opinions within the Faculty Association questioning whether it is worth responding and no concrete discussion on the response methods has taken place, the debate is expected to be prolonged. The Kookmin University Student Council conducted a total vote among 5,609 students on joint responses to the investigation of Kim's doctoral dissertation allegations, with 94.4% of respondents supporting a re-investigation.

As the National Assembly audit schedule continues until the end of this month, the political sphere is also closely watching Kookmin University's re-investigation, and controversy surrounding Kookmin University's follow-up measures is expected to intensify. Do Jong-hwan, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, also requested the Korea Design Trend Society to verify misconduct in the other two papers besides Kim's doctoral dissertation.

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