By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
Critics of President Lee Myung-bak's administration are poring over the background of the newly appointed education minister.
They are charging that the minister-nominee, Ahn Byong-man, may be guilty of taking inappropriate compensation and exhibiting questionable scholarly conduct while serving as president of a major Korean university.
But the nominee denied the allegations. ``If critics charge this is inappropriate scholarly conduct, I don't know what would pass as appropriate conduct,'' Ahn said, Tuesday.
President Lee replaced three Cabinet ministers Monday, in a move aimed at placating political opponents and regaining public support. One of the appointees is Ahn, 67, who was named minister of education, science and technology. Ahn has been serving as a presidential advisor for future state planning and had also previously worked as president of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
But some critics are scrutinizing Ahn's past record and are raising questions. Political opponents charge that Ahn may have taken inappropriate severance pay when he left his post at the university.
They also accuse Ahn of unprofessional scholarly conduct, pointing out that two separate academic papers he submitted to a university publication ― one in 1995 and the other in 1996 ― appear to contain identical or similar passages, which, critics say, shows an attempt by Ahn to inflate his publication output by submitting identical material more than once.
Both papers examined the social and political history of ethnic Koreans in China's Korean autonomous prefecture.
In response to the allegations, Ahn defended his past record in interviews with Korean media. ``Regarding the severance pay, that issue has already been cleared by the association of professors at the university. It strictly followed the university's rules and there wasn't anything inappropriate,'' he said.
``And regarding the academic papers, the second academic paper was an extended version of the first paper. The second paper further built on findings I had written in the first publication. If you look at the two papers closely, you will find that the contents are actually very different. And the second one is much longer than the first,'' Ahn said.
Ahn has been described as a trusted advisor to President Lee and reportedly offered him political advice during last year's presidential election campaign. He also demonstrated competent managerial and administrative skills while serving as the university's president, according to media reports.
This is not the first time that Lee's political opponents have scrutinized new appointees' professional records. In June, the administration postponed the appointment of Hanyang University professor Cheong Jean-gon as senior secretary for education, science and culture, following allegations that he may have published the same research findings in more than one publication.
michaelha@koreatimes.co.kr