Professor Dong-Ho Cho from the School of Electrical Engineering has had his ministerial nomination revoked following a confirmation hearing by the parliament. Cho was nominated to be the head of the Ministry of Science and ICT by the Moon administration last month. However, on March 31, President Moon Jae-in withdrew the initial decision to appoint Cho after he failed to explain his participation in a predatory conference.
The parliament confirmation hearing was being prepared from mid-March to scrutinize the history of conduct of Professor Dong-Ho Cho, Moon’s choice for the Minister of Science and ICT. Many news outlets highlighted past misconducts committed by Cho, including alleged violations of the Agricultural Land Act, possession of multiple homes, and property speculation accusations. This was unsurprising to many, as such accusations are commonplace during the hearing process.
Professor Cho came under fire during the official confirmation hearing on March 27, when additional allegations including misuse of research funds and tax evasion were brought to the surface. His responses to questions on the future of the ministry were ambiguous and elusive. For example, he failed to give his visions on plans to convert non-regular workers into regular workers within the ministry by repeating, “I do not know the specifics.” As such, questions were raised regarding the extent to which he would be a good fit for the head of the ministry.
On March 30, Cho was in the hot seat for his participation in OMICS International, a predatory conference of open access academic journals. Such conferences appear to be legitimate upon first inspection, but are exploitative and unjust as participants can pay to have their research findings published without any review. This means that participants can easily forge the number of studies they have published to inappropriately earn more research funds from the government. The nominee’s disappointing elucidation was a critical blow to his nomination.
The very next day, the Blue House announced the rescindment of Cho’s position in the Cabinet. “Nominee Cho did not reveal his participation in the underperforming overseas conference,” said Do-Han Yoon, the senior secretary to the president for public relations, “which is why [he] was not screened out in our verification process.”
Reactions from scientific academia are mixed. Some agreed with the withdrawal, recalling the importance of research ethics. They added that Cho’s participation in an inappropriate conference and his general lack of “politicalness” are culpable. However, others criticized the president’s hasty decision to “cut losses” and remonstrated that the administration’s lack of attention to science and technology is evident. The opposition parties also demanded the Blue House to take responsibility for the faulty verification process.
Coupled with the recent controversy of KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin, which Nature referred to as a “political purge”, anti-government sentiments among the scientific community seem inevitable. Read about the allegations against President Shin in The KAIST Herald Volume 167 or online at herald.kaist.ac.kr.