Court Rules "Dismissal of Teacher Who Leaked School Regular Exam Papers Is Justified"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A court ruling has upheld the school's decision to dismiss a high school teacher who leaked regular exam papers outside the school.

On the 29th, according to the legal community, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 5 (Presiding Judge Yangjun Park) ruled against former teacher A (64) in a lawsuit seeking to cancel the dismissal decision filed against the Teacher Appeal Committee.

The court stated, "The dismissal cannot be seen as a clear loss of validity in social norms or an abuse of discretion by the disciplinary authority," and added, "The public interest achieved by the dismissal is by no means less significant than the disadvantages suffered by the plaintiff due to the disciplinary action."

The court pointed out, "The plaintiff, for personal reasons, betrayed the basic and fundamental ethical duties as a teacher by leaking the midterm exam questions of the school where he was employed, significantly hindering fair competition among students and severely undermining the purpose and effectiveness of the examination system, which is highly blameworthy."

A, who worked as an English teacher at a foreign language high school in Seoul, was dismissed after it was revealed in 2017 that he leaked the midterm English exam papers to an academy run by an acquaintance.

A filed an appeal with the Teacher Appeal Committee to cancel the dismissal, but after it was rejected, he filed a lawsuit.

A argued, "Some charges regarding the leakage of exam papers were acquitted, and a retest was conducted after the leak, so no actual obstruction of work occurred," but this was not accepted.

Separately, A faced criminal charges related to the case and was found guilty of some counts of obstruction of work related to the exam paper leak. In November of last year, the appellate court confirmed a prison sentence of 1 year and 6 months.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.