COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) 鈥 Norway鈥檚 health minister resigned Friday, the second Norwegian government member to step down this year amid allegations they plagiarized academic works.
Ingvild Kjerkol resigned a day after a in northern Norway, where Kjerkol, handed in her master thesis in 2021, concluded that 鈥渢here is a not insignificant amount of plagiarism in her master鈥檚 thesis."
鈥淲e have come to the conclusion that Ingvild should resign as minister,鈥 Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St酶re told a press conference. He said the probe had concluded the plagiarism was 鈥渋ntentional.鈥
Kjerkoll said she and a co-author 鈥渄id not intend to plagiarize other people鈥檚 assignments.鈥
鈥淎lthough it hurts not to be believed, we have to deal with the fact that (the university) is of a different opinion,鈥 she said at a joint press conference with Gahr St酶re.
The 48-year-old Kjerkol has been in office since October 2021 when Gahr St酶re presented a coalition government of his own Labor party and the junior Center Party.
Kjerkol is the second government member to be entangled in academic plagiarism allegations this year.
In January, Sandra Borch stepped down as minister for research and higher education after a student discovered that parts of Borch鈥檚 master鈥檚 thesis, including spelling mistakes, were copied without attribution from a different author.
Gahr St酶re鈥檚 coalition has seen the departure of several ministers in recent months over other wrongdoings. it was revealed that the husband of then Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt had been trading in stocks for years behind her back and that could potentially enrich her.
In September, the ruling social democratic Labor party was defeated in local elections by the conservative Hoeyre, the main opposition party, for the first time since 1924. The party, which for decades was Norway鈥檚 largest party in local elections, came in second in the .