Former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min and his daughter Yoo Dam, a professor at Incheon National University. [Yonhap]
Former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min and his daughter Yoo Dam, a professor at Incheon National University. [Yonhap]

Police have booked former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min as a suspect in connection with allegations that his daughter, Yoo Dam (31), received preferential treatment in her hiring as a professor in the trade studies department at Incheon National University.

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency's anti-corruption and financial crimes unit said Thursday it had booked Yoo without detention on charges of obstruction of business.

Yoo is suspected of interfering with the university's hiring process in connection with his daughter's appointment.

Police said they identified the charges against Yoo in the course of investigating the broader allegations and have not yet decided whether to refer the case to prosecutors.

Police summoned Yoo on Thursday as a suspect and are questioning him about whether he acknowledges the charges.

Police have been investigating the case for more than seven months after receiving a complaint in November last year regarding the preferential hiring allegations.

The original complaint called for an investigation into 23 people — including Incheon National University President Lee In-jae, the academic affairs personnel team, hiring review committee members and records managers — on charges of violating the Public Records Management Act or obstructing business operations.

Beyond those originally named in the complaint, police have additionally booked three people, including Yoo, and are questioning them.

However, police have not yet booked Yoo Dam herself, the central figure in the preferential hiring allegations.

Yoo Dam was hired as a full-time faculty member in the university's College of Global Political Science and Economics after passing a new faculty recruitment process in the second semester of last year. Allegations of preferential treatment were raised during a National Assembly national audit.

At the national audit of Incheon National University last October, Rep. Jin Seon-mi of the Democratic Party of Korea said there had been widespread objections to the 31-year-old's appointment, noting that Yoo Dam had ranked around 16th in the qualitative review of her research papers with a score of 18.6 points, yet received a perfect score in the quantitative assessments of her academic background, career and publications — finishing second overall in the first round of screening.

Jin went on to say she had reviewed all trade department professors hired at comparable institutions and found not a single one without professional experience. "Professor Yoo has no experience studying or living abroad, no corporate work history, and yet received a perfect score for career experience while other applicants received low scores," she said.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com