Ex-justice minister's daughter attends forgery trial in college admissions scandal

Cho Min, daughter of ex-Justice Minister Cho Kuk, on Friday attended the first hearing for her trial on forgery charges in a college admissions scandal.

Cho told reporters she would "faithfully engage in her trial" and declined to comment further, as she appeared at the Seoul Central District Court.

The 32-year-old, who was trained as a physician, is accused of fabricating her own credentials when she applied for an undergraduate degree at Korea University and another at Pusan National University's Graduate School of Medicine.

Cho's medical license was revoked in July, following her announcement about a week before not to pursue further legal actions to overturn the decisions the two schools to nullify her admissions. The credentials she had submitted to them were found to have been forged at court rulings for other cases involving her family members.

The ex-justice minister's wife, Chung Kyung-shim, was convicted of multiple counts of crimes including document forgery related to her children's unfair college admission in 2022. The professor's four-year jail term was to last until August 2024, but she was released on parole in September. She is also facing another year of imprisonment depending on the rulings over her son's college admission scandal.

Cho was indicted in August. Cho's representatives claimed that the prosecution has overused its power, although they admitted to the charges.

Meanwhile, her father, the minister, is also on trial at a high court for his involvement in his children's college admission documents and abuse of power. He was sentenced two years behind bars but was not immediately detained.