On 22/7, a 67-year-old professor from Sungkyunkwan University's College of Pharmacy in Seoul was convicted of obstruction of business. She was sentenced to 3 years, 6 months in prison, while her daughter received a 10-month suspended sentence. Both appealed, but the appellate court on 22/7 upheld the sentences, making them final and effective.

The professor was found to have directed students to conduct experiments for her daughter's university research project and write reports based on the results during 2016-2017. This fraudulent thesis helped her daughter gain admission to Seoul National University's School of Dentistry in 2018.

Further investigation revealed the mother instructed her students to manipulate data to strengthen the scientific experiment's hypothesis. Her daughter was listed as a co-author of the research and received an award for the work, which was published in an internationally recognized journal, despite only observing experiments two or three times.

As a result of the scandal, the professor was dismissed from Sungkyunkwan University in 6/2019. Seoul National University subsequently revoked her daughter's admission in 8/2019.

Hai Thu (According to Korea Times)