'Professor Hiring Bribery of Over 100 Million Won' Sentences Confirmed for Daejeon National University Professors

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The Supreme Court has upheld prison sentences for two professors at a national university in Daejeon who were on trial for receiving bribes worth hundreds of millions of won in exchange for hiring full-time professors.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeong-hwa) announced on the 13th that it confirmed the original court rulings sentencing Mr. A and Mr. B, who were indicted on charges including bribery under the Special Act on the Punishment of Bribery, obstruction of business, and coercion, to 5 years and 4 months and 5 years in prison, respectively. The court stated, "There were no errors such as misinterpretation of the law or omission of judgment in the original court's decision."

Mr. A and others were indicted on charges of receiving money and gift certificates as bribes from Mr. C, who worked as a part-time lecturer at the same university from October 2012 to July 2017, in exchange for hiring him as a professor, as well as receiving entertainment several times at places such as room salons and golf courses. The total amount of money and entertainment expenses they received from Mr. C over five years reached 148 million won.

Mr. A and others were also charged with having Mr. C write academic papers on their behalf twice, in April 2016 and December 2017. Additionally, they were accused of coercing Mr. C and another part-time lecturer, Mr. D, to perform "Wonsan bombing" (a harsh act of banging one's head on the ground) while drinking at a hotel room in Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province, in December 2014. Furthermore, in August 2016, they were charged with forcing someone to bang their head on a parasol table in front of a convenience store in Suncheon City, Gangwon Province.

Separately, Mr. A was indicted on charges of touching the body parts of Ms. E, a contract-based lecturer who worked four times from November 2018, with his hands. In March 2019, when Ms. E resisted after being forcibly hugged, Mr. A allegedly said, "Why is a woman so stiff? You should be soft," and hugged her again.

The first trial found Mr. A and Mr. B guilty of all charges except for some counts related to coercion, sentencing each to five years in prison. The court acquitted them of the coercion involving the Wonsan bombing, citing inconsistencies between the crime scene and victim Mr. D's court testimony. The prosecution's indictment at the time stated the crime scene as a hotel room in Hongcheon County, Gangwon Province.

During the second trial, the prosecution changed the location of the Wonsan bombing coercion to Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province, through an amendment to the indictment, leading to a guilty verdict. The other charges were also upheld. The second trial court merged the case involving forced molestation and other charges against Mr. A, which had been tried separately in the first trial, and increased his sentence to 5 years and 4 months in prison. Mr. B was sentenced to five years in prison, the same as in the first trial.

In the appeal trial, the main issues were whether Mr. A and Mr. B were co-conspirators and whether the coercion charges were valid. Regarding the separate forced molestation charges against Mr. A, the existence of the molestation was also a point of contention. These were all claims made by Mr. A and others in their appeals. However, the Supreme Court dismissed their appeals and ruled that the original court's judgment, which found all charges guilty, was correct.

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