[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] A large number of students and an entrance exam consulting academy that wrote various competition papers on behalf of high school students for local governments and others have been arrested by the police.
The Cyber Safety Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 29th that 78 people, including 18 officials from an entrance exam consulting academy in Gangnam, Seoul, and 60 students, were booked on charges of obstruction of business and obstruction of official duties by deception. Among them, the academy director A, who faces serious criminal charges, was arrested on the 16th.
According to the police, A and others, who opened a specialized entrance exam consulting academy around the end of 2015, recruited students aiming to enter universities through the comprehensive student record screening by holding entrance exam briefings and internet advertisements.
The academy had instructors assigned to each student write book reports, short papers, invention reports, etc., for various competitions on their behalf and deliver them, and the students submitted the results to the competition organizers as if they had written them themselves, thereby interfering with the fair competition judging process.
Police investigation revealed that from June 2017 to July last year, students paid the academy between 1 million and 5.6 million KRW per work as a fee for ghostwriting and fabrication. It was found that the academy received a total of 300 million KRW from 60 students.
When students won awards in competitions through this method, the results were recorded as the students' achievements in their school life records. The police plan to notify the competition organizers and the Ministry of Education of the investigation results. A police official said, "Since the students have been booked as principal offenders, whether to investigate the parents will be decided after reviewing legal grounds," and added, "We will continue to strictly crack down on illegal activities that undermine fair competition in entrance exams and employment."
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