Professor Sentenced to Prison for Forcing Students to Write and Falsify Research Papers to Admit Daughter to Seoul National University Dental School

Ordered Graduate Students to Conduct Animal Testing and Write Papers
Daughter Receives Suspended Sentence; Admission to Seoul National University School of Dentistry Also Cancelled

A former professor at Sungkyunkwan University has received a final sentence of three years and six months in prison for mobilizing her graduate student mentees to write admissions papers for her daughter and even instructing them to falsify research data.

The Supreme Court building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to Yonhap News on July 22, the First Division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Cheon Dae-yeop) recently finalized the lower court's ruling that sentenced former professor Lee (67) of the College of Pharmacy at Sungkyunkwan University to three years and six months in prison for charges including obstruction of work.

Her daughter, who was tried alongside Lee, received a final sentence of ten months in prison, suspended for two years.

Lee was indicted for arranging for her daughter to be admitted to the Seoul National University School of Dentistry in 2018 by presenting papers written by her graduate students as if they were her daughter's research achievements.

In 2016, Lee instructed her graduate students to conduct animal experiments for her daughter's undergraduate research project. The following year, she had them write a paper based on the results, and even ordered them to manipulate the research data to fit her own hypothesis.

The resulting paper was published in an SCI-grade journal. Although Lee's daughter only attended the experiments two or three times, her name was included in the research report, which was then submitted to various academic societies, earning her awards. She later used the paper's publication and her award record to gain admission to the dental school at Seoul National University.

Both the first and second trials found Lee and her daughter guilty of all charges.

In July 2024, the first trial court stated, "This crime has severely undermined the fairness and public interest of the college entrance examination," sentencing Lee to three years and six months in prison. However, the court suspended the sentence for her daughter, explaining there was a need to give her a chance at rehabilitation.

The appellate court this past February upheld the verdict, stating, "Lee not only assigned her daughter's experiments and report writing to graduate students who faced difficulty refusing a professor's unreasonable orders, but also instructed them to falsify research data." The court further noted, "After the crime, she attempted to coerce graduate students into changing their statements or threatened to sue, and sought to shift responsibility to others, all of which call for strong condemnation."

Lee was dismissed from Sungkyunkwan University in June 2019. That August, Seoul National University also rescinded her daughter's admission to the dentistry school. The daughter attempted to contest the university's decision with a lawsuit, but ultimately lost the case in March of last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.