Ex-Justice Minister Cho says he 'respects' children's decision to renounce controversial degrees

▲ Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk speaks to reporters ahead of a hearing at the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul on July 17, 2023. (Yonhap)

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Ex-Justice Minister Cho says he 'respects' children's decision to renounce controversial degrees

SEOUL, July 17 (Yonhap) -- Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, currently under trial on academic fraud charges connected to his daughter and son, said Monday he respects his children's decision to renounce controversial academic degrees.

Cho, a former Seoul National University professor who served as a justice minister under the previous Moon Jae-in administration, made the remark as he appeared for a hearing at the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul.

An appeal trial is currently under way after Cho was given a two-year prison term on charges connected to his children's admission to a medical school and a graduate school.

Last week, Cho Min, the ex-minister's daughter, dropped her lawsuits filed to reverse decisions by Korea University and Pusan National University's Graduate School of Medicine to revoke her admissions, saying she will "go back to the starting point and start again with a clean slate."

The ex-minister's son also announced through a lawyer a decision to relinquish his master's degree in political science from Yonsei University Graduate School last week.

"As a father, my heart ached but I decided to respect their decisions to begin anew from the starting point," the ex-minister said.

"Since a guilty sentence was finalized for professor Chung Kyung-sim at the Supreme Court, she herself and the family humbly accepted it and are reflecting on themselves," Cho said, referring to his wife who is currently serving a four-year prison sentence on academic fraud and other charges.

The former minister also indirectly refuted speculation that he would run in next year's parliamentary election, saying, "There are many people writing fiction about my future on the basis of groundless imagination and speculation."

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