Nom Hyung-wook Preliminary Candidate Accused of 'False Academic Credentials' Faces Citizen Group Complaint

Noh Hyung-wook "Responsible person's mistake... No reason to falsify academic background"

Former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Noh Hyung-wook, who declared his candidacy for the April general election in Dong-gu Nam-gu Gap, Gwangju Metropolitan City, has been accused of falsifying his educational background in his autobiography and on portal sites. A civic group in the Gwangju area also filed a complaint against candidate Noh with the prosecution and the election commission for violating the false information disclosure law.

Noh Hyung-wook, former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

According to Gwangju-Jeonnam Citizens' Action on the 30th, at a press conference held the previous afternoon at the Gwangju Metropolitan City Council, they stated, "Candidate Noh, with the intention of winning, falsely listed 'Master's degree from Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Administration' in his autobiography and even held a book launch event, deceiving voters," and pointed out, "He also listed false academic credentials on his business cards, which were widely distributed to voters."

They added, "He brazenly registered these two false academic credentials on the profile information on portal sites, confusing voters' judgment criteria," and claimed, "This constitutes a serious election crime under Article 250, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act regarding false information disclosure."

The group urged, "The prosecution and the election commission must promptly and strictly investigate to clearly ascertain the truth behind candidate Noh's alleged false academic credentials."

In response, candidate Noh also issued a statement on the same day to clarify the matter.

In his statement, candidate Noh explained, "As a former administrative examination pass and having served as Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, twice as Minister including the Chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and having graduated from Yonsei University and studied abroad at Sciences Po in Paris, there is absolutely no reason to add false academic credentials for election purposes," and clarified, "The autobiography was compiled from an interview with the publishing editor, and I did not provide my academic background to the publisher. It was confirmed that the editor wrote it based on information found online and that my office staff did not provide any academic information."

He continued, "Having spent my entire life in public service, I was unable to properly verify or know how to upload my career or profile on portal sites," emphasizing, "This appears to be a mistake made by the staff member who uploaded it on my behalf, and as soon as I confirmed this fact, I immediately took corrective action."

Candidate Noh stated, "There were no errors in the academic background listed in the documents submitted to the election commission and the Democratic Party, and all business cards and promotional materials prepared for the election contained only truthful information. I pledge to comply with laws and regulations and uphold rules throughout the election process."

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