Filipina-Korean candidate`s educational background in doubt

A quasi-witch hunt has been launched on the educational background of Jasmine Lee, 35, a Filipina-Korean widow who is a proportional representation candidate for the ruling Saenuri Party in next month`s general elections.

Controversy erupted over Lee’s educational background after a Web user uploaded a post on an anti-multicultural Internet café on March 12, which read, “I checked the Philippine education system to find that there is no high school (from which Lee claimed to have graduated). If (she) quit college, she even failed to graduate from high school. What can a Filipina who never finished high school do?”

The Philippine education system, however, allows a student who has finished six years of elementary school and four years of high school to enter college. The netizen raised suspicion without bothering to check facts.

Previously, Lee was introduced as a medical school dropout from the Philippines in media interviews. Controversy has intensified since March 21, however, when her educational background was found to suggest that she dropped out from the biology department at Ateneo de Davao University in Manila in her candidate registration at the National Election Commission.

The Dong-A Ilbo checked the FAQ section of the Philippine university’s website and found that “The biology department is a course of study for students seeking to enter medical school, and all graduates advance to medical school.” Lee never attended medical school, but the department she studied at can be effectively considered medical school in Korea.”

Lee also said, “Since all students from the department advance to medical college, I introduced myself by omitting the interim process.”

Jin Jung-kwon, a professor at Dongyang University in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province and a progressive political commentator, said in a Twitter message, “(Lee`s case) is believed to be similar to Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon’s introduction as a dropout of Seoul National University`s College of Law.’ We thought the Saenuri Party seemed immature when it raised issue with his educational records, and we need to think in their shoes this time. Let’s not behave like them."

jhk85@donga.com