The Seoul High Court accepted Yonsei University's appeal against the provisional injunction suspending the effectiveness of the essay exam.
The Civil Division 25-1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Lee Gyun-yong, Jeong Jong-gwan, Lee Bong-min) on the 3rd upheld the appeal filed by Yonsei University regarding the provisional injunction suspending the effectiveness of the 2025 academic year early admission essay exam for the natural sciences track. This overturned the first-instance court's dismissal and rejected the provisional injunction application filed by the examinees.
The court stated, "The determination of acceptance or rejection, admission qualifications, and selection methods at private schools is a discretionary act that the educational institution can comprehensively decide based on personality, aptitude, academic ability, and knowledge to achieve educational objectives."
The court further said, "Even if there were inadequate responses during the operation and supervision of the essay exam, autonomy should be recognized as long as the fairness of the selection process is not seriously compromised. Considering the average scores of the 72 exam rooms and the lack of sufficient evidence regarding widespread external leakage, it does not appear that the fairness of the essay exam was seriously compromised by the prior distribution and collection of the exam papers."
Following this decision, Yonsei University will be able to proceed with subsequent admission procedures such as announcing the successful candidates as scheduled. The initial announcement date for early admission successful candidates at Yonsei University is set for the 13th.
Meanwhile, this case involves an incident during the essay exam held last October at Yonsei University's Sinchon Campus in Seoul, where exam papers were mistakenly distributed one hour early by the proctor and then collected. Examinees filed a main lawsuit demanding a retest and a provisional injunction suspending the effectiveness of the essay exam at the Seoul Western District Court, claiming that some questions were leaked online.
Subsequently, on the 15th, the Civil Division 21 of the Western District Court (Presiding Judge Jeon Bo-seong) granted the provisional injunction. When Yonsei University's objection to the injunction was also rejected, it immediately filed an appeal with the Seoul High Court.
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