IOC may reopen Moon's case
By Jung Min-ho
IOC member Moon Dae-sung
Kookmin University has officially informed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that Rep. Moon Dae-sung of the ruling Saenuri Party, who is a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission, got his Ph.D from the school fraudulently.
It remains to be seen whether this will prompt the IOC to reopen its investigation of Moon, a former taekwondo athlete who won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games.
Following the controversy over his academic credentials, the IOC started an investigation of Moon in April 2012, but shelved it in December of last year, citing the lack of a conclusive statement from Kookmin University.
In explaining the decision, IOC President Thomas Bach said its ethics panel “decided to close this file at least for the time being’’ and said the investigation could be reopened if ``new elements emerge.’’
After a two-year investigation, a panel at Kookmin University announced on Feb. 27 that Moon’s 2007 thesis, “Effect of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) on Flexibility and Isokinetic Muscle Strength in Taekwondo Practitioners,” was “seriously plagiarized.”
An official from Kookmin University told The Korea Times on Thursday that the school sent the panel’s report to the IOC on March 27 through express mail. She refused to explain why it took an entire month for the school to confirm its investigation results to the IOC.
When contacted on Tuesday, the IOC had said it had yet to receive the letter and document from Kookmin University.
“The final decision is to maintain the school’s first investigation result. It was plain and simple,’’ he said.
A Kookmin University professor, who refused to be named, said the school had been under pressure “due to the weight of the issue.”
IOC spokesman Andrew Mitchell said on Tuesday, “The IOC is still waiting for a copy of the decision made by Kookmin University and has no further comment to make at this stage.”
Meanwhile, the IOC announced the composition of its commissions for 2014 on Tuesday. Moon was included in the commission of “Sports for All.”
This is the second plagiarism case involving an IOC member.
Pal Schmitt, a double Olympic fencing gold medalist and IOC member since 1983, was reprimanded by the IOC ethics commission after Semmelweis University’s investigative committee found his thesis had been plagiarized and revoked his academic title in 2012.
The scandal eventually forced Schmitt to step down as president of Hungary.
Moon’s famous plagiarism case has also been a popular target for political attacks.
Heo Young-il, vice spokesman of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, said Wednesday the Saenuri Party’s Moon is a “symbolic figure of plagiarism,” criticizing the conservative party for including candidates who are also under suspicion of academic plagiarism for nomination.