Moon still an IOC member, awaits results on investigation

The International Olympic Committee has yet to make a decision regarding the membership of Korean taekwondo gold medalist Moon Dae-sung amid the plagiarism scandal that has engulfed him.

According to IOC officials, they have yet to receive any relevant information and therefore have not made a decision regarding Moon’s membership.

"The IOC is following the case and will study any relevant document if and when it becomes available, then consider whether any action needs to be taken," Emmanuelle Moreau, head of media relations at IOC, told The Korea Herald in an e-mail.

Moon, the first Asian athlete to win a seat on the 19-member IOC Athletes Commission, has seen his reputation unravel since it was revealed that the lawmaker-elect had plagiarized his doctoral dissertation in 2007.

Since winning a seat in the National Assembly in the April 11 general election, Moon has left the ruling Saenuri Party and resigned as a professor of physical education at Dong-A University in Busan. According to a preliminary investigation by the research ethics committee of Kookmin University, the university where he received his doctorate, Moon had copied the thesis of another student. An official decision regarding the allegations will be reached after a 90-day investigation, the university said.

Moon’s case is not the only plagiarism scandal that demands the attention by the IOC, as longtime member and former Hungarian President Pal Schmitt was also found to have plagiarized his thesis. The two-time fencing gold medalist resigned from his presidency on April 2 after his alma mater stripped him of his doctoral degree. As of Sunday, Moon and Schmitt were both still on the official roster of IOC members on their site.

According to Around The Rings, a U.S.-based website covering the Olympics, the IOC Ethics Commission was scheduled to meet on May 4 to discuss Schmitt and possibly Moon. However, the IOC media relations department did not comment on the matter after an e-mail inquiry. Moon was elected to the IOC Athletes Commission in 2008 and was to hold the post until 2016.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldm.com)

http://www.koreaherald.com/sports/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120513000302