Fake RP diplomas reach South Korea

SEOUL (AFP) – South Korea’s fake degree scandal has spread to the military, with 13 army officers sacked and prosecuted for faking Filipino university degrees.

“Military prosecutors have indicted the 13 lieutenant-level officers for faking degrees,” a defense ministry spokesman told AFP Friday.

Eight others waiting to be commissioned as officers were also found to have forged degrees from the same university, he said.

“Their commissions have been cancelled. They have been ordered to complete obligatory military service as enlisted soldiers,” he said.

South Korea recruits hundreds of college graduates as officers each year in addition to military academy graduates.

Yonhap news agency said investigators flew to the Philippines on a tip-off in August that the officers had stayed in the country to secure forged college degrees through a broker.

The scandal erupted in early July when government prosecutors investigated Dongkuk University professor Shin Jeong-Ah for fabricating a Yale doctorate.

Shin, 35, was arrested last month with her alleged lover Byeon Yang-Kyoon, a former top policymaker. He was charged with influence-peddling by allegedly abusing his position to help Shin further her career.

President Roh Moo-Hyon dismissed Byeon and expressed embarrassment over the scandal, which prompted a probe into the academic backgrounds of thousands of professors and civil servants.

In recent months dozens of celebrities from the cultural, entertainment and religious worlds have either confessed to faking their academic records or were found out.

Education experts say the tendency to emphasize paper qualifications rather than ability, combined with loose verification systems, tempts some Koreans to forge academic backgrounds.