'Sookmyung Girls' High School Twins Involved in "Exam Question Leak" Absent Again... Second Trial Decision Postponed'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The twins from Sookmyung Girls' High School, who were sentenced to a suspended prison term in the first trial for taking exams using leaked answers provided by their father, the head of the academic affairs department, again failed to appear at the appellate trial, causing the trial to be postponed. The twins also missed the trial last month citing "personal reasons."

On the 13th, Hyun Mo (20, female), one of the twin daughters of Hyun Mo (54, male), the former head of academic affairs at Sookmyung Girls' High School, did not attend her appellate trial held at 10:10 a.m. at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Appeal Division 5-3 (Presiding Judge Lee Gwan-hyung). The court postponed the verdict hearing to 4:30 p.m. on the 19th of next month, stating that it was difficult to proceed with the trial as only one of the twin defendants was present.

On that day, the twins' lawyer said, "(The absent Hyun) has been feeling very unwell since yesterday," adding, "We should have made her come and face the trial somehow, but we apologize." He also added, "It would be better to continue the trial on one date and proceed with both twins' cases together."

The court reprimanded the defendants, saying, "The summons have not even been delivered yet," and urged, "Cooperate with the trial procedures." The court continued, "We tried to accept the evidence requests as much as possible according to the defendants' demands, and since they said they wanted to be questioned, we devoted a lot of time. They said they were unwell last time as well, but no documents to verify this have been submitted."

Previously, the twin sisters were found guilty of obstructing the school's academic evaluation work 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. In the first trial, they were sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension and ordered to perform 240 hours of community service. Their father, Hyun, who was prosecuted earlier than the two daughters, was found guilty and received a confirmed prison sentence of 3 years.

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