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Pusan National University’s Geumjeong Campus (provided by Pusan National University)

Pusan National University (PNU) has decided to revoke the admission of the daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk to its medical school.

“After taking into account the results of an independent investigation by the fair admissions committee, the court’s verdict in an appeal by Chung Kyung-sim, and the opinion of the department in question, we have decided to revoke the admission to our medical school that we granted in 2015 to Cho, who has recently graduated,” PNU said on Tuesday.

Cho is the daughter of Cho Kuk and Chung Kyung-sim, a professor at Dongyang University.

PNU had intended to make its decision about Cho’s admission after the Supreme Court had heard Chung’s appeal in her ongoing criminal case, under the principle of the presumption of innocence. But after the Ministry of Education recommended that the university take appropriate measures separately from the legal proceedings, PNU asked its fair admissions committee to look into the allegations that Cho had cheated during the admission process.

PNU’s decision was affected by the outcome of Chung’s appeal. On Aug. 11, the Seoul High Court upheld a lower court’s conviction of Chung for forging a presidential citation from Dongyang University and sentenced her to four years in prison.

The admission fairness committee came to the following conclusion in the report that it submitted to the university administration.

“We assumed the accuracy of the judgment of the high court that tried Chung’s appeal without reaching our own judgment about whether the Dongyang University presidential citation was forged or whether Cho actually did an internship at Kongju National University or held a post as a research assistant at Dongyang University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology.”

“In our analysis of the impact of the documents in question, the presidential citation from Dongyang University and the experience listed in her admission application do not appear to have been major factors in her acceptance into medical school. We have decided not to make any recommendation about whether her admission should be revoked or retained.”

But after receiving the committee’s report, PNU took the stern step of rescinding Cho’s admission to the medical school. The university offered the following rationale for its decision.

“The 2015 guidebook for applying to the medical school stated that the inaccuracy of any information in submitted documents was grounds for rejecting an application. The question of whether those documents impacted the success of an application is immaterial to the administration’s decision about whether to revoke admission.”

But formally revoking her admission is expected to take some time.

“The administrative decision reached today is a preliminary step. That decision will be finalized following hearings and other procedures. It generally takes two or three months before such a decision is finalized,” said Park Hong-won, PNU’s vice president.

If those steps do ultimately lead to the final revocation of Cho’s admission, her medical license would probably be canceled as well. Prior to cancelation, Cho would be notified of the step and given a chance to express her opinion.

“This would be the first time that a medical license has been canceled after admission [to medical school] is revoked, with the effect of erasing a degree. In previous examples of doctors losing their medical licenses because of wrongdoing, they’ve been given three or four weeks to submit their opinion,” said Kim Hyeon-suk, an official in charge of medical workforce policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Korea University released a statement of its own on Tuesday.

“A committee has been convoked to review admission revocation in accordance with this institution’s rules for academic affairs. More information will be made available as proceedings move forward,” the university said.

After graduating from Korea University in 2014, Ms. Cho was admitted to the PNU medical school that same year and graduated this past February. She received her medical license in January.

“As a father, this is painful for me. We will sincerely address these issues in the hearings that are scheduled before the final decision is made,” Cho Kuk said in a message posted to social media.

By Kim Kwang-soo, Busan correspondent

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