Current Educator Sentenced to 3 Years for SAT Leak... Court Cites "Undermining Admission Fairness"

Seoul Central District Court / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] A current school staff member who leaked SAT exam papers, known as the U.S. college entrance exam, and sold them to students was sentenced to three years in prison in the first trial.

According to the legal community on the 29th, Judge Ryu Il-geon of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 26 sentenced A (36), a staff member at Yongin Foreign Language High School, who was indicted on charges of obstruction of business. The court stated, "The defendant's crime resulted in undermining the fairness of admissions to American universities," and pointed out, "The illegal exam paper black market can never be eradicated due to such prior leak acts, making the crime more serious." The court added, "Considering the numerous prior leaks and the substantial criminal proceeds obtained by the defendant himself, severe punishment is inevitable."

A was indicted for conspiring with brokers specializing in exam paper leaks and academy instructors to leak exam papers a total of 10 times from October 2017 to May 2019, thereby obstructing the work of ETS, the organizer of the SAT exam. It was investigated that while managing and supervising the SAT exam conducted at Yongin Foreign Language High School where he was employed, he used his mobile phone camera to send leftover exam papers after distribution to brokers. The leaked exam papers were delivered to SAT test takers who had paid tens of millions of won in advance through brokers and academy instructors. It is known that the unfair profits A obtained through this method exceeded 200 million won in total.

The SAT exam is held about four to five times a year on the same day in various countries worldwide, but due to time differences, the actual exam times vary by country. A and others planned this crime by exploiting the fact that exams held in Europe and other regions start about eight hours later on average than in Korea. They had other English instructors, who were pre-arranged, solve the leaked exam papers in advance and even handed over the completed answer sheets to students. It has been reported that some students who took the exam in Europe and other regions based on these exam papers and answer sheets actually applied to and were admitted to U.S. universities.

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