Education nominee accused of plagiarising thesis

South Korea’s nominee for education minister was accused of plagiarism last week by an opposition party lawmaker, who alleged that the candidate lifted a thesis from one of his students while working as a professor, writes Kim Hee-Jin for Korea JoongAng Daily.

Kim Myung-soo (66), a professor at Korea National University of Education and the president of the Korean Educational Research Association, was tapped on 13 June to serve as education minister and to simultaneously fill the newly established post of deputy prime minister for education, society and culture.

Park Hong-keun, a lawmaker with the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, accused the professor of copying in its entirety the 79-page thesis of a masters student who had studied under him. He presented two nearly identical theses as evidence, claiming that Kim summarised the thesis of his student, only identified by his surname Jeong, and condensed it into a 24-page paper with the same content.
Full report on the Korea JoongAng Daily site