Plagiarism controversy clouds ‘10 SNU’ plan

Education Minister nominee Lee Jin-sook, under pressure to step down over plagiarism allegations, might feel unfairly targeted, especially when compared to past figures like the so-called “cabbage prime minister” or the “bullying minister.” But she is a nominee for the education minister post. It is no different than a labor minister delaying wages or a justice minister breaking the law.

The paper in question, published in February 2018 in the Journal of the Korean Society of Color Studies, is titled “A Study on Fatigue Feelings Assessment on Change in Lighting Area and Illuminance Levels.” Just a month later, a nearly identical paper, with “fatigue” changed to “discomfort glare,” was published in another journal. The experimental design and results are virtually the same, with entire sentences repeated word by word. Under research ethics guidelines, this qualifies as unjustified duplicate publication.

While self-plagiarism between the two papers is problematic in itself, a more serious allegation has emerged: that Lee may not have written either paper. In April 2018, a doctoral dissertation bearing Lee's name as academic advisor was submitted by a student at Chungnam National University. It is claimed that Lee summarized this dissertation and published it in an academic journal as the lead author. When asked, many professors said, “I’ve never seen a case where a professor is listed as the first author on a paper like that.”

Lee’s students issued a statement defending her, claiming the research was a project entirely led and managed by the professor from planning to revision, and thus it was only natural that she was the lead author. According to them, Chungnam National University’s research institute received 425 million won from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy in 2017, and the students wrote papers based on this project. One science and engineering professor said, “Even if a professor contributes by finding prior research, designing experiments, and revising papers, it’s standard and rewarding to be listed as the corresponding author.” If Lee was rightfully the first author, as her students argue, then they should give up their degrees, and the university should undergo an audit.

It was even more surprising that her students described this as a “typical lab culture.” This was a public admission of research ethics violations and a denial of academic rigor. Perhaps this explains how Lee ended up copying awkward sentences and even typos from her student’s dissertation into her own paper. Diligent researchers at the same university must be appalled.

Lee was reportedly selected to advance the pledge of “creating 10 Seoul National Universities.” This plan aims to raise per-student spending at key regional national universities to match that of SNU, currently 60.59 million won per year, about 2.5 times the average of 24.5 million won for regional schools. President Lee Jae-myung pledged to invest over the next five years to close this gap and foster 10 research-intensive universities like SNU.

But simply copying a budget or even outright plagiarizing it will not create 10 Seoul National Universities. The idea of establishing 10 SNUs was first proposed by Kyung Hee University professor Kim Jong-young. In his book, Kim recalls the skeptical responses he faced: “Why should we spend trillions on professors who barely work at University A or students who do not study at University B?” He argued that without structural reforms alongside increased funding, the concept of ‘10 SNUs’ would remain an empty slogan.

Already, regional national universities are claiming they need 300 billion won annually per department or 3 trillion won per university. Yet none have proposed concrete reform plans or strategic roadmaps, only endless talk about funding. Can a nominee like Lee, whose academic work is mired in allegations of lazy and unethical practices, credibly demand reform or research results from these universities? Can she even explain why trillions of won should be invested at all?