Moon Dae-sung

By Kang Seung-woo

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Saturday that it will study a plagiarism case of IOC member Moon Dae-sung and consider whether any action needs to be taken, one day after the suspicion of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis was confirmed by Kookmin University.

“We will contact the university in due time,” IOC spokesperson Andrew Mitchell told The Korea Times via e-mail.

“The IOC Ethics Commission will only be active, once there is a definitive decision by the university and only after the commission has received all the information, will it be able to discuss the issue.”

The Korean university, where the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in taekwondo did his doctoral work in 2007, announced Friday that the 35-year-old lawmaker-elect had committed plagiarism in his doctoral thesis, following a preliminary investigation.

Right after the announcement, Moon quit the ruling Saenuri Party, issuing a statement of apology, but he didn’t mention whether he will give up his seat.

On the back of his rock star status thanks mainly to his impressive victory at the Athens Olympics in 2004, he was elected as a member of the IOC in 2008.

Moon’s case is the second plagiarism issue swirling around the IOC of late. Earlier this month, the IOC said it would examine Pal Schmitt, the former Hungarian president and IOC member, over his plagiarism scandal involving a doctoral dissertation he wrote 20 years ago.

Due to the scandal, he gave up his presidency on April 2.

Currently, Korea has two IOC members ― Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee and Moon.