The Korean Medical Association has urged Dankook University to rescind a research paper that lists the daughter of justice minister-nominee Cho Kuk as a lead writer although she had only interned at the university for two weeks after research was long finished.

The recommendation was sent to Prof. Jang Young-pyo, who led the research, and is the latest blow to Cho, who has been mired in an escalating nepotism scandal.

KMA president Choi Dae-zip told reporters on Monday, "It is our conclusion that there is no possibility that nominee Cho Kuk's daughter could have contributed to the paper to the extent of warranting her being listed as the lead writer."

The scandal is all the more embarrassing since Cho, a poster boy of the Moon Jae-in administration's squeaky-clean image, has been a vocal critic of nepotism exemplified by the preferential treatment given to the daughter of ousted president Park Geun-hye's toxic confidante Choi Soon-sil.

Choi Dae-zip urged authorities to investigate whether Cho's daughter used the paper to her advantage in gaining admission to university.

