Cho Min’s W10 million fine finalized in admissions fraud case after no appeal filed
Cho Min, daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, leaves Seoul Central District Court on April 23 after receiving a verdict in her admissions fraud appeal trial. Yonhap
Cho Min, 33, daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, has received a finalized sentence of a 10 million won ($7,300) fine for academic admissions fraud after neither she nor prosecutors appealed the latest court ruling.
According to legal sources on Friday, neither side filed an appeal to the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Appellate Division by the deadline of Wednesday, thereby confirming the verdict issued on April 23.
Cho was indicted on charges of obstruction of business, obstruction of justice and the use of forged official documents. The court found that she had submitted false documents, including a forged certificate of merit from Dongyang University signed in the name of the university president, as part of her applications to the medical school at Pusan National University (PNU) in 2014 and Seoul National University graduate school in 2013.
Both the trial and appellate courts found her guilty and imposed a fine of 10 million won. The lower court acknowledged that while Cho had benefited from the forged documents, she was not directly involved in creating them.
The judges also noted that she had withdrawn lawsuits challenging the cancellation of her admission to PNU and took these factors into account in determining her sentence.
Cho’s mother, former Dongyang University professor Chung Kyung-sim, and her father, Cho Kuk, were also convicted in connection with the admissions scandal.
Cho Kuk is currently serving a two-year prison sentence after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction in December on charges related to academic fraud and abuse of power. Chung received a suspended one-year prison sentence for her role in their child’s admission irregularities.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.