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Chonnam National University’s move to award an honorary doctorate degree to Chung Mong-joon is drawing protests from its students.
It is not the first time that the school has sought to give an honorary philosophy Ph.D. to the former chief of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP). Chung, among the nation’s richest men is one of the sons of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, and the largest shareholder of Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Chonnam University in South Jeolla Province is an iconic school for democratic movements in the nation. It had planned to offer Chung an honorary diploma back in 2007 and again in 2009. It failed to do so due to strong opposition and protests by graduate students and professors from the philosophy department.
Graduate students are organizing a protest to keep the school from awarding Chung the degree following rumors that the school is again attempting to do so this year.
``If the school gives the diploma in a bid to attract political and financial support and without a justifiable cause, it will be denying its philosophy and the spirit of the 5.18 Pro-democracy Movement,’’ they said in a statement.
Chonnam National University was in the middle of the 5.18 Pro-democracy Movement in the 1980s, while the GNP is the successor of the government which repressed the movement at the time.
The students also argued that if the former chief of the GNP accepts the diploma it would be like ``buying honor with money and considering the diploma as an ornament for a successful political position.’’
The students also questioned the school’s intentions, saying that they ``wondered why the school was so desperate to award Chung with a diploma.’’
Meanwhile, the university said that there were no specific plans and that they were aware of the students’ opposition, remaining cautious on the issue.
``We have no plans whatsoever concerning the diploma and we were actually surprised when we saw the news ourselves,’’ an official from the school told The Korea Times.
However, students are claiming that the school has not flatly denied the plan, nor promised to not award the degree to Chung.
The school canceled plans to honor Chung with a Ph.D. in 2007 when professors and students of the department expressed strong opposition. In 2009, Chung almost made it to the ceremony but was stopped when some 1,000 students blocked him. Chung waited near the school and was planning to continue to the ceremony at the nearby medical school building, but he finally decided to postpone it considering the students’ disapproval.
The students are planning to hold a press conference and individual demonstrations in front of the university and continue their counteraction. The school’s graduation ceremony will take place on Feb. 25.
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