Busan medical school voids admission of ex-justice minister's daughter

Pusan National University (PNU) in this southern port city said Tuesday it has decided to nullify its admission of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's daughter into its medical school in 2015 following her mother's recent conviction in an academic fraud case.

The state-run university said its decision to cancel Cho Min's admission to PNU's Graduate School of Medicine six years ago came after an analysis of an appellate court's ruling on her mother's academic fraud charges and an in-house committee's review of the case.

On Aug. 11, the Seoul High Court upheld a four-year prison sentence for Chung Kyung-sim, Cho Min's mother, after finding her guilty of all charges related to the unfair college admission of the younger Cho.

Chung was convicted of forging a presidential citation from Dongyang University and getting a false internship certificate to use for her daughter's admission to the PNU medical school.

The 29-year-old Cho entered Korea University in 2010 and graduated in 2014. She was then admitted to PNU's medical school in 2015 and is scheduled to graduate this year. After passing the state medical licensing exam earlier this year, she is currently working as an intern at a hospital.

PNU said in a news conference that if the information in the application documents is different from the facts, the concerned applicant is supposed to be disqualified.

In a related development, Korea University is also reviewing the high court's verdict to make its own decision on whether to cancel Cho's admission. (Yonhap)