SEOUL - South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s picks to head the education and gender equality ministries are facing allegations that have sparked calls for their withdrawal.

Ms Lee Jin-sook, who has been nominated for education minister, a position that doubles as deputy prime minister, has been accused of plagiarising an earlier paper by her student while she was a professor.

According to a page-to-page analysis of Ms Lee’s paper and her student’s, released by main opposition People Power Party Representative Joo Jin-woo, some of the nominee’s paragraphs exactly matched those written by her student.

The People Power Party lawmaker claimed that “about half of her paper had been copied off her student’s”.

“This isn’t your typical academic plagiarism. The education minister nominee abused her authority as a professor to rip off her student’s paper. This is easily a crime of abuse of power,” Mr Joo said.

The People Power Party said that the education minister nominee committed serious ethical violations in the academic community and was unfit for the position.

Ms Lee, a professor of architecture, had served as president of Chungnam National University in South Chungcheong Province. She was part of the Lee Jae-myung presidential campaign, heading the committee for beating elitism in college education.

Another of the president’s Cabinet choices facing calls to pull out is Representative Kang Sun-woo, a human development expert-turned-Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker, who has been nominated as minister of gender equality.

Ms Kang faces accusations of “gapjil”, allegedly mistreating staff members at her legislative office.

“Gapjil” is a Korean word that refer to abusive, arrogant or authoritarian behaviours from individuals in positions of power towards their subordinates.

Ms Kang replaced staff 46 times in a span of five years, which would mean she sacked a member of her staff nearly every month.

She also allegedly made demands of them outside of their legislative support duties, such as asking them to do household chores for her.

Both nominees have denied the allegations.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea launched a defense of the Cabinet nominees, saying that the controversy surrounding the two was a “mere smear tactic” by the People Power Party.

The minor Korean Democratic Labor Party and the Reform Party have also joined the People Power Party in urging the president to drop the nominations of Ms Lee and Ms Kang as ministers.

But the protest from the opposition parties will not necessarily sink their nominations, given earlier picks with scandals and controversies, including Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, weren’t withdrawn from consideration and ended up being confirmed. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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