Shin Jeong-ah, the former assistant professor at Dongguk University in a bogus degree scandal, was endorsed as a co-director of the Gwangju Biennale by senior Korean painter and a professor emeritus at Seoul National University Lee Jong-sang (69). Lee was chairman of the Gwangju Biennale's subcommittee selecting curators for the prestigious event. Lee apparently made the recommendation despite lacking basic information on Shin such as her age and academic background. Lee and Han Kap-su, the former chairman of the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, did not reveal who had recommended Shin for the post.
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Former Dongguk University Assistant Professor Shin Jeong-ah and a letter recommending her to the director of the Gwangju Biennale.
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The Chosun Ilbo discovered the fact from information about the endorsement submitted by the Gwangju Biennale Foundation to the office of Grand National Party lawmaker Park Chan-sook of the National Assembly Culture and Tourism Committee. In his written recommendation, Lee endorses Shin because of her "sufficient exhibition experience," "winning of major fine art awards," and "her doctorate from a prestigious American university." Lee did, however, put a question mark after "graduate school of Yale University." There is a suspicion that Lee endorsed Shin under outside pressure or influence-peddling despite his doubts about the Yale doctorate, which indeed proved fake.
But Lee denies this. "To prevent outsiders from lobbying, we make our endorsements without letting the candidates know what goes on,ˇ± he said. ˇ°Although I didn't know her exact age or address, I thought she was worth recommending because she was widely known among artists." He said he did not suspect her degrees because she was a university professor. ˇ°Nobody peddled influence or pressured me when I recommended her,ˇ± he added.
The Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office, which is investigating the scandal, said Monday it recently summoned for questioning two Dongguk professors who raised suspicions that Shin's degrees were bogus or opposed her employment as a professor when she was screened by the school in September 2005.
Meanwhile, Dongguk University President Oh Young-kyo, who is close to the presidential chief secretary for national policy Byeon Yang-kyoon because they graduated from the same university and worked together as government officials, called a press conference the same day. He denied meeting or talking on the phone with Byeon about the scandal. He defended the presidential aide, saying by the time Byeon met with the whistleblower, the monk and former Dongguk director Jangyoon, Shin's degrees had already turned out to be bogus. ˇ°It was therefore improbable that they discussed hushing up the scandal that day,ˇ± Oh said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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