Minor party leader's son loses master's degree over inflated admission credentials

Yonsei University has canceled the master's degree of a minor party leader's son who used a false internship certificate as part of his admissions credentials, according to school officials on Thursday.

The main campus of Yonsei University in Sinchon, western Seoul. [YONSEI UNIVERSITY]

Yonsei University has canceled the master's degree of a minor party leader's son who used a false internship certificate as part of his admissions credentials, according to school officials on Thursday.

University officials said the school decided to revoke the admission of Cho Won, the son of Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk, thereby also nullifying the master's degree he obtained from the school in 2021.

The decision came almost a year after the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of former DP lawmaker Choe Kang-wook on charges of issuing a false internship certificate to Cho Won.

Cho submitted the internship certificate to Yonsei University for admission to its graduate school of political science and diplomacy in 2018.

Although Choe claimed during his trial that Cho had worked as an intern at his law firm for nine months in 2017, the Seoul Central District Court did not accept his argument.

Judge Jeong Jong-geon, who presided over the case, cited testimony given by the firm’s employees — who had never seen Cho working at the law firm — as evidence that Choe falsified the internship certificate.

The lawmaker lost his parliamentary seat upon being sentenced to an eight-month-long prison sentence that was suspended for two years.

Cho said in July last year that he had notified the university of his decision to voluntarily forfeit his master's degree.

Public furor over his inflated admissions credentials, as well as those of his sister Cho Min, played a role in bringing about the downfall of their father in 2019.

Once a rising political star, Cho Kuk was forced to resign as justice minister after the state prosecution service, then led by now-President Yoon Suk Yeol, launched an investigation into allegations that he and his wife had falsified their children’s academic credentials to give them a leg up in university admissions. Both were later convicted.

After re-entering politics earlier this year, Cho established the Rebuilding Korea Party, which won the third-largest share of seats in the National Assembly in the April general election after the liberal Democratic Party and the conservative People Power Party.

Cho has accused the state prosecution service of targeting him and his family and repeatedly called for Yoon’s removal from office.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]