‘Roh’s Aide Tried to Cover Up Diploma Forgery’
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
The prosecution plans to investigate the allegations that a presidential aide attempted to cover up a scandal involving a university professor forging her school diplomas in July, government sources said Friday.
Byeon Yang-kyoon, director general for policy planning at Cheong Wa Dae, allegedly pressed Buddhist priest Jang Yoon to keep mum about his suspicions over the authenticity of the educational background of assistant professor Shin Jeong-ah, 35, at Dongguk University.
But Byeon Friday denied the allegations through Cheon Ho-seon, the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman.
``Byeon doesn't know her personally, and it is not true that he met the monk to persuade him not to disclose Shin's fake diplomas,'' Cheon said.
Byeon, as a director of the Cheong Wa Dae Buddhist association, simply tried to express his hope that problems regarding the university would be settled smoothly, Cheon said.
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper also claimed that Byeon's action suggested high-ranking officials were involved in the controversial appointment of Shin as a Dongguk professor.
Prosecutors, who have been investigating the diploma forgery case at the request of the university, will verify the report, but have failed to contact the monk so far, prosecution sources said.
Rev. Jang Yoon said on June 29 that Shin forged her bachelor's, master's and doctoral diplomas before she was hired by the university. The revelation came after the monk was sacked as member of the school's board of directors on May 29 after he first raised suspicions on Shin's academic credentials.
Three or four days afterwards, Jang received a phone call from Byeon who was visiting Guatemala City saying that he would resolve the issue of Shin and asked the monk to stop making a fuss over it, reports said.
Byeon was accompanying President Roh Moo-hyun on his visit to the Central American nation from July 2-5 to support PyeongChang's bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.
On July 8 after Roh returned home, Byeon met with Jang at a Seoul hotel and asked him again not to make any more unnecessary fuss, promising him reappointment as a member of the university's board of directors, the reports said.
But Shin's fake Yale University doctorate story was reported on July 8 and she was dismissed from her post as a professor as well as art director of the 2008 Gwangju Biennale.