LAUSANNE: In yet another plagiarism case, the International Olympic Committee has suspended South Korea’s Moon Dae-Sung who has a member repreenting the athletes’ commission since 2008.

The decision followed a recommendation from the ethics commission after the withdrawal of a doctorate by Kookmin University becaue of plagiarism.

In a statement, the IOC said: “The ethics commission has taken into account the severity of damage to the reputation of the Olympic movement and recognised the need to take a provisional measure to suspend all the rights, prerogatives and functions of Mr Dae-Sung Moon in his IOC membership until the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea delivers his final verdict.”

Moon, a taekwondo Olympic champion at the 2004 Athens Games, was due to step down as an IOC member in any case after the Rio Games.

In 2013 former Pal Schmitt was allowed to stay on as an IOC member despite being forced to quit as President of Hungary over a plagiarism issue.

Schmitt was stripped him of his sports doctorate on the subject of the Olympics for copying chunks of his thesis without proper acknowledgement. But he was allowed to keep his IOC membership, escaping with a reprimand and a self-imposed permanent suspension from joining any commission.

Schmitt was a double gold medal-winning fencer and and had chaired the IOC’s sport and environment commission as well as being a member of the international relations commission.

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