"No Special Treatment in Medical School Transfer" ... Candidate Jeong Ho-young Refutes by Disclosing Child's Grades

Health and Welfare Minister nominee Jeong Ho-young is arriving at the hearing preparation office set up at the Seoul Northern Regional Headquarters of the National Pension Service in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul on the 14th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

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[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Jeong Ho-young, the nominee for Minister of Health and Welfare, has refuted point by point the controversy over special favors regarding his two children's transfer admissions to medical school.

The nomination hearing preparation team for the Minister of Health and Welfare released a statement on the 14th, saying, "The nominee's children were selected through an objective and fair process in both procedural and substantive aspects of the transfer admission process."

It was revealed that Jeong's daughter and son were admitted to the transfer admission process of Kyungpook National University (KNU) College of Medicine in 2016 (for the 2017 academic year) and 2017 (for the 2018 academic year), respectively, while Jeong was serving as the deputy director and director of Kyungpook National University Hospital, sparking controversy over "dad's chance" special favors. Both children had volunteer experience at KNU Hospital before transferring and included this in their transfer application documents.

In the case of the son, it was also confirmed that from August 2015 to August 2016, during and immediately after his enrollment in the Department of Electronic Engineering at KNU, he participated as a co-author in two papers indexed in the Korean Citation Index (KCI).

Regarding this, the preparation team explained that in the KNU College of Medicine transfer admission process, candidates were selected in the first stage by summing scores of academic records (200 points), official English test (100 points), and document screening (200 points) to select three times the number of available spots. In the second stage, candidates were evaluated out of 800 points by adding interview (100 points) and oral evaluation (200 points) scores to the first stage scores.

The second stage consisted of individual interviews, with evaluators assigned randomly, and the evaluators for the first and second stages were different, making it "difficult to provide benefits to any specific individual," the team claimed.

According to the preparation team's explanation, there were 52 evaluators in the 2017 academic year and 55 in 2018, composed of approximately 30% clinical professors and 70% basic medical science professors such as biochemistry. Qualitative elements like interviews were limited to within 40% of the total score.

The daughter, who graduated from Seoul National University College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, ranked 16th out of 33 applicants in academic records (average 93.70/100), 11th in English score (TEPS 855), and 28th in document screening in the first stage. In the second stage, she ranked 15th in the interview and 19th in the oral evaluation, with a final combined score ranking 27th out of 33.

Regarding the suspicion that the daughter was the only applicant to receive a perfect score of 60 in the oral exam, the preparation team stated, "It was confirmed that other applicants also received perfect scores in other exam rooms at the time." After transferring to medical school, the daughter graduated with a final GPA of 3.16 out of 4.5.

The son, who transferred to KNU College of Medicine through a "special admission" targeting Daegu and Gyeongbuk natives after graduating from KNU Department of Electronic Engineering, ranked 2nd out of 17 successful candidates in academic records (average 96.90/100), 3rd in English score (TEPS 881), and 6th in document screening in the first stage. In the second stage, he ranked 8th in the interview and 10th in the oral evaluation, finishing 7th out of 17. The preparation team emphasized, "Compared to the moderate individual interview scores, the combined academic and English scores were the highest among the 17 candidates, indicating higher academic scores than other successful applicants."

Regarding the two papers the son co-authored during university, the team explained, "These were papers related to his major in the College of Engineering, not the College of Medicine, and he participated in writing the papers upon the recommendation of his advisor, Professor Park Jong-tae. There was no improper procedure."

Regarding volunteer work, they explained, "It was applied for through the hospital's social work office. Kyungpook National University Hospital allows anyone who wants to volunteer to apply at any time. Unless it is a very short-term application (one day), all applicants are given volunteer opportunities."

The preparation team stated, "The nominee's children's transfer admissions were fairly selected through legitimate procedures with academic effort," and requested, "Please refrain from reporting suspicions without reasonable grounds, considering the human rights and personal information protection of the nominee's children."

Despite the controversy over an inappropriate past column and the special favor controversy regarding his children's transfer admissions immediately after his nomination, the government submitted the nomination hearing request for Jeong to the National Assembly on the same day.

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