By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Twenty-three incumbent and former military officers and officer cadets were caught for having used fake university diplomas during their application for officer training, a lawmaker said Friday.
According to Rep, Song Young-sun of the Grand National Party, the Ministry of Defense recently withdrew its appointment of 13 incumbent and two former officers for allegedly fabricating diplomas from A.T. College in Baguio, the Philippines, to submit to the ministry for verification of their academic record.
Military prosecutors indicted some of them, while eight cadets were discharged.
This is the first time a large number of military officers have been punished for falsifying their academic records.
In Korea, a graduate of either a military academy or university four-year course can apply for officer training and serve a three-year term in the military. The term is well paid, and gives the person an advantage when applying for jobs in the private sector, as well as fringe benefits.
However, military investigators found the documents of those caught to be fake as the school had no record of their graduation.
The Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office also caught two brokers who had contact with the Korean students and A.T. College.
The prosecution speculated that the brokers took an active role in fabricating the documents. A source said that prosecutors are investigating to see whether a school professor was involved in the process.
Additionally, genuine graduates from the college may face scrutiny. Oh Se-hoh Koonoh, who worked as a professor there, said the school does not offer full four-year university courses but rather two and three year college courses, which do not satisfy the requirements for officer training.
Lawmakers who belong to the National Assembly's Defense Committee criticized the ministry for mishandling the recruitment.
``The ministry has been very naive on verifying the academic records of its staff and I expect there to more cases in the barracks,'' Song said.
She said the 23 were caught because their absence from the country for studying to get the diploma was exceptionally short, which raised investigators' suspicions. She said the ministry should examine all officers' academic records.
In response, the ministry said it will examine the records of all staff members and discipline people where necessary.