Hong Jin Young States That She Will Give Up Her Graduate Degrees After Allegations Of Plagiarism

Hong Jin Young will give up her master’s and doctoral degrees after allegations that she plagiarized parts of her master’s thesis.

Earlier this week, Kukmin Ilbo reported that Hong Jin Young’s master’s thesis from Chosun University was under suspicion of plagiarism after it was tested by an anonymous informant on the plagiarism review site Copy Killer and received a score of 74 percent.

Hong Jin Young’s agency denied the claims and released a statement from the professor in charge of reviewing her thesis. The statement said that it was typical at the time for theses to have several annotations and quoted citations and references and that Copy Killer had only come into regular use in universities around 2015. (Hong Jin Young’s thesis was reviewed in 2009.)

As the plagiarism accusations continued to spread, Hong Jin Young shared the following statement on Instagram:

Hello, this is Hong Jin Young.

First, I’d like to apologize for bringing up this unfortunate issue. I have worked hard for the past 10 years, pouring sweat and tears into my work, and am disappointed at the malicious gossip that has arisen. I’m sorry for causing so much concern. I am sincerely sorry.

I received my master’s degree after submitting a thesis in 2009. I organized my time, conferred with the professor, and did my absolute best to create the thesis. Even though it passed without a problem at the time, now people are saying that it is being judged by some percent or other, and I am disappointed and frustrated because whatever I say now will sound like an excuse.

However, I think that this is something I should take responsibility for. Now that I think about it, [a graduate degree] was something that didn’t suit me. I think I was too ambitious.

I’m sorry. Regardless of the reason, it makes me sad to think about how I’ve been caught up in this scandal. I am also self-reflecting about whether I was too ambitious in the past. I’m really sorry. I was lacking in so many ways.

I’ve decided to give up my master’s and doctoral degrees. I think that is the best thing that I can do at this moment.

All of this was due to my carelessness and mistakes. Once again, I sincerely apologize for causing people concern.

Prior to this, Hong Jin Young held a Bachelor of Commerce, Master of Trade, and Ph.D in Business Administration from Chosun University.

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안녕하세요. 홍진영입니다. 먼저 불미스러운 일로 인사를 올려 죄송합니다. 지난 10여년을 땀과 눈물을 쏟으며 열심히 살았지만 이런 구설에 오르니 저 또한 속상합니다. 심려를 끼쳐 죄송합니다. 진심으로 사과드립니다. 저는 2009년 대학원 석사학위 논문을 취득했습니다. 시간을 쪼개 지도 교수님과 상의하며 최선을 다해 논문을 만들었습니다. 하지만 당시 문제없이 통과되었던 부분들이 지금에 와서 단지 몇%라는 수치로 판가름되니 제가 어떤 말을 해도 변명으로 보일 수 밖에 없어 답답하고 속상할 뿐입니다. 이 또한 제가 책임져야할 부분이라고 생각합니다. 지금 생각하니 제게 어울리지 않는 옷이었습니다. 과한 욕심을 부린 것 같습니다. 죄송합니다. 이유 불문하고 이런 논란에 휘말린 제 모습을 보니 한없이 슬픕니다. 그리고 지난 날을 돌아보며 제가 또 다른 욕심을 부린 건 없었나 반성합니다. 정말 죄송합니다. 제가 부족했습니다. 저는 석사 및 박사 학위를 반납하겠습니다. 그게 제가 할수있는 최선의 방법인거같습니다. 이모든게 다 저의 불찰이고 잘못입니다.많은분들께 심려를 끼쳐드려 다시 한 번 진심으로 죄송합니다.

A post shared by hongjinyoung 홍진영 (@sambahong) on Nov 6, 2020 at 12:52am PST

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