Unregistered College Doled Out Fake Degrees

Professors and public officials who paid for a degree from an unauthorized college were caught en masse by the police yesterday. The foreign affairs section at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency indicted without detention on July 13, 39 people, including Professor Hong at the Gwangju National University of Education for reporting fake doctorates received from the unregistered American International University (AIU) to the Korea Research Foundation.

Mr. Choi and 25 others who used the fake degree to enter graduate school were also indicted without detention on charges of obstruction of justice. Professor Hong, and instructor Lee teaching at Jinju National University got jobs at the universities they are teaching at now with fake degrees. Professors Park at “N” university and Kim at “H” university who have doctorates from Korean universities bought the fake degrees in order to make their educational background more flowery.

Police officer “Seon,” teachers, and former and incumbent lawmakers also paid for degrees. A police investigation found out that AIU was established in January 2001 in Guam and had the majority of its students registered in the Seocho-gu office in Seoul, and handed out the degree a year or two after their admission without giving them any assignments.

Every semester the AIU charged 1.5 million won for an undergraduate, 2 million won for a graduate and 2.5 million won for a doctorate as a school tuition fee. One police officer said, “There were four to five classrooms and an auditorium in the school building in Guam.” A few classes were held in Guam in the summer, but those who didn’t take part in these also received degrees.”

Mr. Park, a founder of the college, was arrested for fraud in 2005 in the U.S. and the school was shut down in April when the police launched an investigation.

egija@donga.com