Rep. Moon allowed to rejoin Saenuri

By Jun Ji-hye

Rep. Moon Dae-sung

The ruling Saenuri Party on Thursday decided to allow Rep. Moon Dae-sung, who quit the party over allegations that he plagiarized his doctoral thesis, to rejoin it despite opposition from within and outside of the party.

Rep. Hong Moon-jong, secretary general of the ruling party, presented a scheme for Moon’s reinstatement at the Supreme Council meeting, and the six-member meeting reached a consensus.

“The council members stated that the reason for its decision that as Moon is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he is expected to play a huge role in the sports sector,” said a party official.

Soon after he was elected in April 2012 to represent Busan’s Saha-A district, Moon resigned from the ruling party amid controversy that he allegedly plagiarized his doctorial dissertation at Kookmin University. At the time, he also gave up a professorship at Dong-A University.

The first-term lawmaker was also the subject of an internal investigation by the IOC of which he is an athlete member until 2016. He won a gold medal in taekwondo at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

However, in December, the IOC ethics committee closed its inquiry, saying that Kookmin University did not respond to its request to provide documents to resolve whether Moon had committed plagiarism.

The IOC added that it could resume its investigation if and when the case merits it.

Earlier this month, about 130 party members from the Busan branch protested at the main office of the governing party in Yeouido against the move to have Moon reinstated as a member of the party.

At the time, the protesters claimed that Moon did little for his constituents, mostly remaining incommunicado, adding that his reinstatement will not help the party win the Busan mayoral election on June 4.