NTS chief nominee apologizes for controversy over thesis

The nominee to head the National Tax Service on Tuesday apologized for controversies surrounding his master’s degree thesis, which included allegations of plagiarism and using “inappropriate terms” to describe the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising.

Kang Min-soo, the former chief of the Seoul Regional Tax Office, who was tapped by President Yoon Suk Yeol as the next commissioner of the NTS, was recently accused of using terms that describe the previous military Chun Doo-hwan administration (1980-1988) in favor, in his dissertation submitted in 1995.

Kang used the term “Gwangju incident” -- "Gwangju satae" in Korean -- to describe the pro-democracy movement against the then-ruling junta led by Chun who seized power in a military coup the previous year. The military conducted a bloody crackdown on them, leaving hundreds dead. In December 1995, the country adopted the Special Act on the May 18 Democratization Movement, legally describing the incident as a pro-democracy protest, which supporters of Chun continue to deny.

“I sincerely apologize for leaving many people hurt due to the phrases I used without giving too much thought during my years as a graduate student,” Kang said during a parliamentary hearing held at the National Assembly in western Seoul.

“I know that the May 18 Democratic Uprising is a heartbreaking, yet noble incident that laid the cornerstones of South Korea’s democracy -- it was an unfitting and an inappropriate phrase (to describe the protest),” he added.

Kang also addressed the plagiarism accusations claiming that he failed to cite many of his sources in his dissertation.

“I have regrets that I failed to include all of the citations (in my dissertation). There was a mistake because I was writing (the thesis) while rummaging through newspapers at the National Assembly Library,” he explained.

But he stressed that his text similarity with his sources, which is used to measure plagiarism, was below 10 percent, which he believed was “decent.”

Yoon is allowed to appoint Kang as the next head of the NTS, regardless of the outcome of the hearing.