Wife of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk to be released on parole next week

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s wife will be released on parole next week ahead of the Chuseok holidays after serving one third of her four-year prison term for her involvement in document forgery related to her daughter’s college admission, legal sources said Wednesday.

The parole review committee under the justice ministry convened on the day and determined Cho’s wife, Chung Kyung-sim, is eligible for special parole on the occasion of Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, according to the sources.

She will be discharged from prison next Wednesday ahead of the holiday, which runs from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, they said.

Chung, a former professor at Dongyang University, was sentenced to four years in prison by the Supreme Court in January last year for forging her daughter Cho Min’s academic credentials for admission to the Pusan National University medical school in Busan.

Cho Kuk resigned as justice minister in October 2019, just one month after his appointment, following allegations of academic fraud involving his children.

In February, a district court handed down a two-year prison sentence to Cho Kuk, who was found guilty on multiple charges, including his role in admission irregularities concerning his daughter and son.

Cho, a celebrity law professor at the top-notch Seoul National University, served as a senior presidential secretary for civil affairs from 2017 to 2019 during the Moon Jae-in government. He was appointed as justice minister in September 2019 before stepping down about a month later amid the scandal.