President-elect Park Geun-hye’s first chief of staff apologized Wednesday following allegations that he plagiarized his doctoral thesis.

Huh Tae-yeol, a former three-term lawmaker and close political ally of Park, was named earlier this week to be the presidential chief of staff to Park, who is set to take office on Monday.

A local newspaper reported later that Huh’s 1999 paper on local government administration heavily copied another person’s work published three years earlier.

“I offer a deep apology to the people,” Huh said in an emailed statement.

Huh said he did not have sufficient understanding of “the way to write a thesis or research ethics” and failed to sincerely comply with the research ethics standards. He also said he did not have enough time to make elaborate preparations for the thesis.

Still, Huh made clear he has no intention of stepping down.

“If the people give me generous understanding of my shortfalls, I will take this job as my last public service and selflessly devote myself to the country,” he said.

Unlike Cabinet members, his nomination is not subject to the parliamentary confirmation process. (Yonhap News)