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CNBLUE’s Jung Yong-hwa cleared of illegal grad school admission charges

October 9, 2018

SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Yonhap) — Jung Yong-hwa, the main vocalist of the pop rock band CNBLUE, has been cleared of charges related to his illegal admission to a graduate school program, his agency said on Tuesday.

“Jung sincerely cooperated with the judicial authority’s investigation into the charges against him early this year,” FNC Entertainment said in a release. “The prosecution decided not to indict him in July, on the judgment that he has not obstructed work of the school related to his admission.”

The decision confirmed that he had no intention to enter the school without due process, the agency added.

This file photo shows CNBLUE's Jung Yong-hwa. (Yonhap)

This file photo shows CNBLUE’s Jung Yong-hwa. (Yonhap)

The 29-year-old singer was accused of being admitted to a doctorate course at Kyung Hee University in 2017 even though he never came to the interview. In March, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency reported Jung to the prosecution on recommendation that he should be charged with obstruction of business without detention, suspecting that he illicitly entered the graduate school to delay his mandatory military service.

However, a former head of the university’s department that runs the course was put behind bars on Tuesday.

A local court sentenced the professor identified only by his surname Lee to 10 months in prison for obstructing the school’s business by giving the star high marks without an interview. He also told other interviewers to do the same for his personal gain, the court said.

Jung joined the army the same month and is now working at an army base in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province after finishing five weeks of basic training at a boot camp in the same county.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men have to fulfill military duty for around two years.