Dongguk loses fake degree suit

A Seoul court on Tuesday ordered Dongguk University to pay for Yale University’s legal costs while handling a long-running legal dispute over a fake degree. The ruling came after the Korean university lost its case in a U.S. court.

The two schools had been locked in a legal battle after Dongguk accused Yale in 2008 of causing damage to its reputation by mistakenly confirming that Dongguk’s then-faculty member Shin Jeong-ah had received her doctorate from Yale.

Dongguk claimed that the incident and the nationwide scandal that followed forced it to lose some $50 million in government subsidies, donations and other income.

Last year, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ended the five-year legal battle by ruling in favor of the U.S. university, saying Dongguk failed to prove that Yale bore responsibility for the harm that the fake degree scandal did to its reputation.

Following the ruling, Yale filed a suit against Dongguk at the Seoul court, demanding that the Korean school pay for $297,000 it spent in the five-year legal struggle.

“The ruling (by the U.S. court) is subject to forcible execution, according to Korean law,” the Seoul Central District Court said. It also overrode Dongguk’s objection that the amount set by Yale was excessive.

The so-called Shin Jung-ah scandal prompted a nationwide hunt for forged academic credentials by government officials, employees of educational institutes, and even religious figures and big name celebrities. Amid a firestorm of accusations, some figures such as veteran actress Yoon Seok-hwa confessed that they had been dishonest about their alma mater.

The extensive search for people who faked their academic degree resulted in collateral damage as well. Rapper Tablo came under public criticism after he was pinpointed as a degree forger, but a police investigation into the allegation later revealed that he had been telling the truth about his educational background.

The fiery reaction caused by the Shin scandal also illustrated that Koreans remain deeply obsessed with academic credentials as a key path to faster success and higher social status.

According to a recent survey by Job Korea, an online portal for job-related information, 38.6 percent of job-seekers believed academic background was the most important factor for companies when hiring new employees.

In a survey by local matchmaking company Gayeon, 71 percent of respondents said academic credentials were important when looking for a spouse.

As a result of the extreme emphasis on prestigious schools, students are put under great pressure to do well on the critical college entrance exam. Last month, several students apparently committed suicide after doing poorly on the annual test.

By Yoon Min-sik ()