Amid the struggle to save himself from getting arrested, South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has landed in another soup after his wife was accused of plagiarising her master's thesis. As per a report by South China Morning Post, a probe has been launched against Kim Keon-hee, the First Lady of South Korea, by Sookmyung Women's University in 2022. Kim has been accused of falsifying the thesis she submitted in 1999 to pursue a master's degree. 

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The university presented the report to Kim in December 2024 2024, and she is expected to contest the findings by the end of January 2025, the news agency reported. It has been reported that if South Korea's First Lady decides to appeal against the university's decision, it will consider it before filing the final results. 

Multiple controversies over Kim

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It's not the first time Kim has fallen into a controversy because of her academic credentials. Apart from facing allegations of stock market manipulation and interference in election nominations, she has been in the headlines for academic records since 2022. 

South Korea's Kookmin University gave her a clean chit after a probe into her doctoral degree for months. She got that degree in 2008.

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Personal life

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Kim majored in painting at Kyonggi University and earned her master's in art education. She later earned a PhD in digital content design. Despite the variations in her degrees, she continued to teach in various schools. In 2007, she founded a cultural content company called Covana Contents. 

She married Yoon in 2012 when she was 40 and he was 52. In 2018, she claimed in an interview that she had known the impeached president for "a long time" but got married after the suggestion of a mutual friend. 

The latest controversy came when Yoon was in political turmoil after he was impeached following his failed bid to impose martial law in the country.

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(With inputs from agencies)