Sookmyung Girls' High School Twins' Side: "Prosecutor's Claims Are Merely a List of Suspicions"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The twins from Sookmyung Girls' High School, who were sentenced to a suspended prison term in the first trial on charges of taking an exam using leaked answers provided by their father, the head of the academic affairs department, reiterated their innocence at the appeal trial on the 9th.

At the second appeal hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Appeal Division 5-3 (Presiding Judge Gwanhyung Lee), the twins' lawyer stated, "The prosecution's claims are merely a list of suspicions," and added, "Those suspicions were not supported by actual evidence."

Using a presentation (PPT), the lawyer systematically addressed and refuted the various grounds on which the first trial's guilty verdict was based. Regarding the accusation that the twins answered questions correctly without showing the solution process, the lawyer argued, "There are brief solution steps on the exam paper, and there is also an opinion that the questions can be solved mentally without written calculations." Concerning the problem where the twins were the only students to write the incorrect answer exactly as it appeared in the pre-corrected answer sheet, the lawyer explained, "It was a mistake made while transferring numbers during the solution process."

The prosecution countered, "It appears that the defense made their best effort to argue by excluding indisputable circumstantial facts, but it seems to be a kind of exaggeration and distortion in their defense." They also stated, "The defendants' father, who served as the head of academic affairs at Sookmyung Girls' High School, had access to answer sheets and exam papers at any time, and as revealed in the first trial, there is substantial evidence of answer leakage by the defendants."

The court decided to conduct the defendants' questioning on the 23rd of next month and then conclude the arguments. The twin sisters were found guilty of obstructing the school's grading operations by taking exams using answers leaked by their father, who was the head of academic affairs during their attendance at Sookmyung Girls' High School from 2017 to 2018. They were sentenced in the first trial to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension and 240 hours of community service. Their father, Hyun, who was indicted earlier than the daughters, was found guilty and received a confirmed prison sentence of 3 years.

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