[How Is Your Dream] 'Privilege Class Cheating' of Career Forgery and Spec Exchange

Entrenched Elites like Jo Guk and Choi Soon-sil
Abuse 'Parent Chance' for Children's Admissions and Success
Experts: "Hard to Stop Attempts at Lawbreaking"

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] "It caused frustration and disappointment to many people who sincerely strive for fair competition."

On the 23rd of last month, at the Seoul Central District Court during the first trial sentencing of Professor Jeong Gyeong-sim of Dongyang University, the court stated this. Professor Jeong was indicted on charges including forging or falsely issuing documents such as a certificate of commendation in the name of the Dongyang University president and submitting them for her daughter's medical graduate school entrance exam, thereby obstructing the admission screening process. In the prosecution's closing arguments in November last year, this case was defined as a "cheating by the privileged class." The court, which found all charges related to the admission corruption guilty, shared the same view. The court ruled, "It caused negative outcomes that betray the trust and expectations our society had in the admission-related system, making it highly blameworthy." Professor Jeong was sentenced to four years in prison and was taken into custody in court that day.

The trial process of Professor Jeong revealed the dark side of cheating by the privileged class in a stark manner. The court judged that the controversial forgery of the Dongyang University certificate of commendation, as well as the fabricated or factually incorrect career records from the Gongju University Biotechnology Research Institute, Dankook University Medical Science Research Institute, and KIST Molecular Recognition Research Center, were all false. It was also acknowledged as fact that Professor Jang Young-pyo of Dankook University listed Professor Jeong's daughter as the first author of a Dankook University paper, and former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk gave an internship certificate from Seoul National University Public Interest and Human Rights Law Center to Professor Jang’s son, a so-called "spec exchange" scheme.

This case raised the issue of "fairness" in our society. The fundamental premise that equal opportunities should be given to everyone and that fair competition should take place within this framework was broken. The younger generation, who witnessed in reality that differences at the starting point lead directly to differences in outcomes, felt anger and frustration. Among the majority of ordinary parents who do not have a father who served as the Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs and Minister of Justice, or a mother who is a university professor, there was even a self-deprecating lament saying, "Sorry for not having a mother like Jeong Gyeong-sim or a father like Cho Kuk."

Jeong Gyeong-sim, wife of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was indicted on charges of entrance exam fraud and private equity fund suspicions, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing held on the 23rd at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Although the court sent a clear message through the heavy sentence that no one is above the law, such cases have existed in the past and are unlikely to disappear easily in the future. Before Professor Jeong’s case, there was the Ewha Womans University admission corruption case involving Jung Yoo-ra, daughter of Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil), who ignited the Park Geun-hye government’s state affairs manipulation scandal, and the "Sookmyung Girls' High School case," where a teacher leaked exam answers to her twin daughters attending the same school. There is also the "university version of the Sookmyung Girls' High School case," where a professor parent informed his own son attending the same university about exam questions.

Beyond admissions, there are many cases where parents exert undue influence even in their children's employment processes. Former Future United Party lawmaker Kim Seong-tae, who was indicted on charges of having his daughter unfairly hired by KT in exchange for blocking her selection as a witness in a national audit, was acquitted in the first trial but was sentenced to one year in prison with two years probation in the appeal trial held last November after the court recognized the bribery charge as guilty. These are all cases where authority was used unfairly for the sake of children’s admission or social success.

Such "parental chances" are not limited to the privileged class. Recently, 78 people including 18 admission consulting academy officials and 60 students were arrested en masse by the police for having written book reports and short papers for competitions to create "specs" for college admissions.

Experts diagnose that such attempts by the privileged class to perpetuate social class inheritance are difficult problems to overcome. Professor Choi Hang-seop of the Department of Sociology at Kookmin University said, "It is true that the possibility of social mobility is gradually decreasing in Korean society, and behind this is the power class that seeks to monopolize privilege," adding, "Regardless of class, since admission to prestigious universities is believed to be the fastest path to the upper class and is likely to be so in reality, this situation is highly likely to continue repeating in the future."