The allegations have left the former taekwondo player's new political career hanging in the balance after he was forced to quit the Saenuri Party having been elected to the South Korean National Assembly only last week.

Earlier this month another IOC member, Pal Schmitt, was forced to step down as President of Hungary after he was stripped of his sports doctorate when Semmelweis University found he had copied chunks of his thesis without proper acknowledgement.

Kookmin University announced today that the 35-year-old Moon had committed plagiarism in his doctoral thesis submitted to the university in 2007, following a preliminary investigation.

"The theme and purpose of Moon's study was the same as that of a thesis by a Myongji College student," Professor Lee Chae-sung of the University's Ethics Committee said in a news conference on its Seoul campus.

"The similarity was far beyond the scope which academics ordinarily accept.

"We concluded it was plagiarism."

A full investigation has now been launched.

If Moon is found guilty of plagiarism he will be stripped of his thesis, entitled "Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching and its effect on taekwondo athletes".

Moon shot to stardom when he won the the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the heavyweight division after knocking out Greece's Alexandros Nikolaidis with a reverse kick.


He was elected as a member of the IOC's Athletes' Commission in 2008 and used his new position to play a leading role in Pyeongchang's successful bid to the 2018 Winter Olympics. 

He stepped down from Saenuri Party after he was urged to do so by leaders, even though his resignation strips them of their majority in the National Assembly. 

"I'm resigning my Saenuri membership today," said Moon, who is a professor at Busan University.

"I apologise to the public for causing a stir.

"I decided to withdraw following a party recommendation.

"I hope the Saenuri Party will focus on taking care of the people without the pressure of having me as a member.

"I'm to blame for everything.

"It is my fault for the plagiarism suspicions as well as for making people confused by reversing my decision to withdraw.

"I deeply apologise."


There are now calls from the opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) for Moon (pictured above with IOC President Jacques Rogge) to step down as a member of the National Assembly.

"People think Moon is not qualified to be a lawmaker due to his plagiarism and deception," said Park Yong-jin, a spokesman for the DUP. 

"Politicians who lie, copy papers or deceive the people should not become National Assembly members."

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