By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
The court Monday sentenced former Dongguk University professor Shin Jeong-ah to an 18-month jail term on charges of diploma fabrication and embezzlement.
Former presidential secretary Byeon Yang-kyoon received an 18-month suspended jail term with 160 hours of community service for abusing his position as a presidential policy planner to sponsor his lover Shin.
The court convicted Shin, 36, of fabricating a doctoral certificate from Yale University and a bachelor's and master's degree certificate from the University of Kansas and embezzling museum funds.
``We concluded that Shin got hired as a professor with her fake doctorate and as a director for the 2008 Gwangju Biennale,'' Kim Myung-seob, judge of the Seoul Western District Court, said in the ruling. ``She also embezzled corporate sponsorship to Sungkok Art Museum when she served as a curator there.''
Prosecutors had sought four year jail terms for both.
The former presidential secretary was also found guilty of abusing his power to have Heungdeok Temple in Ulju, Ulsan, get a state subsidy and for directing the temple's head monk to help Shin get hired at the university in 2005 where the monk also served as the chief of board directors, the judge said.
Byeon was also found guilty for having misused his power to force a number of companies to sponsor the art museum but the court cleared Byeon of the suspicion that he was involved in Shin's diploma forgery.
``Byeon and Shin were in a romantic relationship without seeking financial benefit. So we don't believe that Byeon was involved in the fabrication of Shin's diploma,'' Kim said.
The court also cleared Byeon of allegations he received 100 million won from Kim Suk-won, former chairman of Ssangyong Group, in exchange for getting him put on a list for a special amnesty due to lack of evidence.
But the court sentenced Heungdeok Temple's head monk, Yeongbae, to a two-year suspended jail term with 120 hours of community service for getting a state subsidy and hiring Shin at the university.