Education minister apologizes for thesis flap

South Korea's education minister on Thursday apologized for inflating his research work in 2001, when he was a professor at a Seoul university.

Kim Byong-joon admitted to having published identical research papers in two academic journals as if they were separate papers as part of government-funded research.

"This was surely my fault, as a researcher is supposed to be in charge (of his own research papers), though I believe there were mistakes by my assistant researchers," Kim told reporters.

Kim, a former public administration professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, and two fellow professors received 270 million won (US$283,230) in research funding from the Education Ministry in 1999 for participating in a national educational project. The professors submitted 46 research papers to academic publications over the next few years.

Kim has also been under growing suspicion that he plagiarized a student's thesis in his research paper. The education minister countered by saying the student used data from his paper.

Later on Thursday, the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) called on Kim to voluntarily resign.

"Allegations on Kim's plagiarism and thesis inflation are continuously erupting and those are serious matters for the education chief," said Jeon Jae-hee, chief policymaker of the GNP.

"If the allegations are all true, he should voluntarily step down." But the presidential office at Cheong Wa Dae countered by saying it is not considering sacking Kim.

"Kim made a sufficient explanation at the press meeting," said presidential spokesman Jung Tae-ho. "Cheong Wa Dae has nothing to say."

Seoul, July 27 (Yonhap News)