Police: "No Charges Against University President Who Did Not Cancel Admission of Cho Guk's Daughter" vs "What About Jeong Yura? Sookmyung Girls' High School? No 'Fairness'"

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was indicted on charges of school admission corruption involving his children, appeared at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong on the 25th of last month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

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[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A civic group is protesting fairness issues after the police closed the case with a 'no charges' decision against the president of Pusan National University, who was accused of dereliction of duty related to the admission of Cho Min, daughter of former Minister Cho Kuk.

The civic group accused the president of Pusan National University of dereliction of duty for not immediately canceling Cho's admission, but the police decided not to prosecute, stating there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

According to the Pusan Police Agency and the Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) on the 22nd, the Pusan Police Agency, which investigated the case in which Beopse-ryeon accused Pusan National University President Cha Jeong-in of dereliction of duty earlier this year, made a decision not to prosecute President Cha on the 20th and closed the case.

Beopse-ryeon argued that although Jeong Gyeong-shim, wife of former Minister Cho, was found guilty of forging a certificate in the first trial, Pusan National University did not immediately cancel the admission of former Minister Cho's daughter, which they claimed was dereliction of duty.

The police informed Beopse-ryeon that "since the appeal trial regarding the key fact of 'whether the certificate was forged,' which is a premise for the decision to cancel admission, is ongoing, it is difficult to see that there was an official duty to immediately cancel the admission based on the first trial's verdict."

They also stated, "There is insufficient evidence to recognize intent to neglect duty without justifiable reason." This means the case was 'closed' due to insufficient evidence to acknowledge the alleged facts.

Beopse-ryeon is protesting the police's decision and is urging for a reinvestigation.

Beopse-ryeon countered, "Admission cancellation is an administrative action, not a criminal punishment, so there is no need to wait for a court decision. If fraud is confirmed, admission must be canceled according to Article 34, Paragraph 6 of the Higher Education Act and the 2015 Pusan National University School of Medicine's admission guidelines."

They claimed, "In the case of the Sookmyung Girls' High School vice-principal, even though the parties strongly denied wrongdoing and the trial was ongoing, Sookmyung Girls' High School immediately expelled the student."

They also pointed out fairness issues, stating, "In cases such as the Jung Yoo-ra incident and the Sungkyunkwan University College of Pharmacy professor incident, admission cancellations were made immediately upon confirmation of admission fraud, and there is no precedent of waiting for court decisions despite confirmed admission fraud."

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