Education Committee Members of the National Assembly: "'Kim Geon-hee Thesis Plagiarism Allegation' Witnesses Submit Absence Letters Citing Overseas Escape"

Strong Response Announced Including Issuance of Accompaniment Orders
"Ticket Date Overlaps with Witness Resolution Timing"

Independent lawmaker Min Hyung-bae held a joint press conference of the Democratic Party of Korea and independent members of the National Assembly Education Committee on the results of the public verification team’s investigation into First Lady Kim Geon-hee’s thesis at the National Assembly Communication Office on the 7th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Opposition lawmakers belonging to the National Assembly’s Education Committee criticized the fact that many witnesses requested in connection with the 'Kim Geon-hee’s thesis plagiarism allegations' submitted absence notices for the national audit, demanding that they "immediately stop their evasive overseas trips and attend the audit."

Democratic Party lawmakers on the Education Committee and independent lawmaker Min Hyung-bae issued a statement on the 3rd, saying, "Most of the witnesses related to the 'Kim Geon-hee thesis plagiarism allegations,' including Lim Hong-jae, president of Kookmin University, and Jang Yoon-geum, president of Sookmyung Women’s University, who were selected as key witnesses for this audit, have submitted absence notices."

They stated, "According to the absence notices submitted to the Education Committee, the reasons given by the main witnesses are uniformly 'overseas business trips,' and the trip periods coincidentally overlap with the audit schedule," adding, "Democratic Party and independent committee members define the absence notifications due to overseas trips as a means to deliberately avoid the audit and will make every effort to bring them to the audit as witnesses."

According to the Democratic Party, President Lim departed for Mongolia on the day and is scheduled to return on the 10th, while President Jang, who left on the 2nd, is expected to return on the 23rd. They also pointed out that Kim Ji-yong, chairman of Kookmin University’s board of trustees, has been staying overseas since early September and is scheduled to return after the audit ends.

The opposition education committee members argue that the timing of the trip proposals and the airline ticket issuance dates, all concentrated on the 23rd of last month when the audit witnesses were decided, indicate that these trips are intended to avoid the audit.

In addition, Jeon Seung-gyu, a professor at Kookmin University who served as Kim’s thesis advisor, and Han, chairman of Kookmin University’s Research Ethics Committee, also submitted absence notices.

The committee members criticized, "Refusing to appear as audit witnesses due to hastily arranged overseas schedules is a violation of the law and a disregard for the public," adding, "It signals that what is happening at their universities is so outrageous that it cannot be disclosed to the public."

They further stated, "If they continue to refuse to attend, we will consider issuing a summons according to relevant laws and will employ all means under the National Assembly Act to allow the public to directly verify the thesis plagiarism and false career allegations."

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