Lawmaker sues journalist over college admission accusations
By Chung Hyun-chae
Na Kyung-won
Rep. Na Kyung-won of the ruling Saenuri Party filed a lawsuit Friday against a journalist employed by news website Newstapa who wrote a report alleging that Na’s daughter was given preferential treatment when applying to study at a university in 2012.
“I filed a criminal complaint against the journalist who falsely reported on the admission of my daughter to a university,” Na said in a press release issued the same day. She said she will also file a civil suit for defamation and seek compensation.
According to the news report on March 17, Na’s daughter, Kim, who has Down Syndrome, was accepted to study at Sungshin Women’s University through a special selection process for the disabled even though she allegedly mentioned her mother’s social status during the interview. Under the admissions rules, disclosing family connections is regarded as an act of cheating.
The report also said that Kim exceeded the time limit during a performance test in which she was to play drums because Kim forgot to bring the necessary backing tracks for her performance.
Renowned guitarist-composer Lee Byung-woo, who was one of the interviewers as a professor of the College of Convergence Culture and Arts at the university, allegedly provided a favor to Kim by ordering school staff to find a cassette player.
According to the report, Lee defended Kim, saying that she performed well. Lee has also been under fire following the report.
At this, Na wrote on her blog on Friday, “My daughter went through the normal process. At that time she had already passed the first examination at another university, but chose Sungshin after receiving the final acceptance letter from them.”
She described her daughter’s life as being trampled on by the media because her mother is a politician.
“I will hold the media responsible for the distorted coverage,” Na said. “A special favor is different to consideration. The disabled need social care.”
Denying the allegation, the university also made it clear that it will take all legal actions against the news outlet.
“The online site spread false information citing groundless allegations,” the university said in its press release.
Newstapa pointed out that Na did not respond to any requests for an explanation before the news broke.
“Even now, Na is not giving any explanation for the key issues, while highlighting that she is the mother of a disabled child,” the media said.