On August 24th, the preliminary administrative disposition was imposed to cancel Cho Min's admission to Pusan National University's (PNU) Graduate School of Medicine. This disposition is based on PNU recruitment guidelines for first-year students in 2015. Earlier, in October 2019, The Hyowon Herald No. 356 dealt with the suspicion of a special scholarship given to Cho Min, a child of Cho Kuk, the former Minister of Justice. At that time, many universities, including PNU, Seoul National University (SNU), and Yonsei University, held candlelight rallies demanding Cho Kuk’s resignation from the Minister of Justice. Through this disposition, The Hyowon Herald will look back at the case.

   On August 9th, 2019, suspicions of Cho Kuk, the former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, started to be raised since he was nominated as a candidate of the Minister of Justice. Despite the privileged universities lead protests calling for the withdrawal of the appointment of Cho Kuk, the president appointed him as the Minister of Justice. As the controversy intensified, it spread to rallies on a large scale. Finally, on October 14th, 2019, Cho Kuk resigned 35 days after his appointment.

   On August 11th, there was a trial on an appeal case of Jeong Kyung-Shim, the former professor of Dongyang University. She is Cho Kuk's wife and was suspected of corruption in her children's admission and private equity. The justice department announced that all seven qualifications that were known to have been used for Cho Min's admission to SNU and PNU were false. Of the seven qualifications, three were written by her mother, Chung Kyung-Shim, and two were written by her father, Cho Kuk. On August 19th, the Committee of Admissions Screening Management of PNU submitted a final report to the PNU headquarters summarizing a four-month investigation into the corruption of PNU Graduate School of Medicine. On August 24th, Park Hong-Won (Vice President, PNU) said, "We canceled Cho's admission after a final review by the Committee of Admissions Screening Management and the PNU headquarters." He cited PNU recruitment guidelines for firstyear students in 2015 as the basis of the admission cancellation. He explained that if students’ contents of the submitted documents are different from the facts, they will be rejected. The Korean Intern Resident Association also urged Cho Min's cancellation of admission, saying, "It is unfair and unjust to forge an award certificate and create false qualifications for admission." In March, the Ministry of Education also opened the possibility of universities to make their own decision to cancel admissions separately from the result of a criminal trial.

   Meanwhile, some civic groups and alumni associations of PNU complained to the president of PNU. They issued a proclamation, claiming that the disposition to Cho Min is wrong. On August 24th, a petition against the PNU's disposition to Cho Min was posted on the petition bulletin board of the Blue House, obtaining consent from about 340,000 people by early September. Then, on August 27th, a civic group, "Civic Act Setting Justice of Jurisdiction Right,” accused Cha Jung-In (President, PNU) of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of a right. They argued that the disposition is contrary to the principle of presumption of innocence because it cited the result of acriminal trial on her mother's actions, not her own. At that time, there was a competition of banners throughout the PNU campus. On August 25th, the Democratic Alumni Association of PNU posted a banner asking for the withdrawal of the disposition. In response, on August 31th, New Nationwide College Representative Students Association (NNCRSA) in Busan hung a banner claiming the maintenance of the disposition. Since then, when the PNU headquarters recommended the withdrawal of banners only to the “NNCRSA,” there were voices pointing out the equity within the school. The staff of PNU explained, "It happened because the departments that manage banners within and outside the school were different," and later withdrew both banners.

   The Hyowon Herald interviewed the students’ opinions on the issue. Park Jae-Il (19, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering) said, “Now that the result of the second trial on the issue of corruption about PNU Graduate School of Medicine has been found guilty, I think PNU has taken appropriate measures to cancel the admission. However, I couldn't help but think that they cared about the political position through the silent behavior throughout the disposition and the announcement. I think this is also a reality that shows the weakness of a national university.” In addition, some students expressed regret over the decision’s process. An anonymous student “A” from Dept. of Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering said, “I think the decision should have been made as soon as possible, as the Jung Yoo-Ra's cancellation of the degree on account of Choi Soon-Sil Gate. They had to make a fair disposition quickly, but they were late. It was also regrettable that an official of PNU had misspoke Cho Min's academic ranking at the time of the announcement of the cancellation of admission.” Another anonymous student, “B,” said, “Some people argue that the qualifications in question did not affect the admission. Then, I would like to ask them if it is okay to submit fabricated documents and qualifications in all entrance exams in the future, insisting that they do not affect the admission. Anyway, it was an incident that fell fairness and justice to the ground and young people to despair. The cancellation of the admission was reasonable.”