Will Reflecting School Violence in Regular College Admissions Solve the 'Jeong Sun-shin Incident'?

"100% CSAT" System Reform Demands Surge
Minister Lee Ju-ho: "Legal Measures Are Important"
"But Changing School Culture Is More Crucial"

There is growing demand to improve the college entrance regular admission system following the controversy involving lawyer Jeong Soon-shin, who was forced to step down as head of the National Investigation Headquarters due to her son's school violence (hakpok) issue. Public outrage has reached unprecedented levels over the fact that Jeong’s son was able to gain admission to Seoul National University despite being subjected to a forced transfer due to his violent behavior at school.

Experts point out that Korea’s college entrance system is somewhat lenient toward school violence, but they emphasize that to fundamentally improve the issue, the short- and long-term impacts and side effects of any institutional changes must be carefully examined.

Jeong’s son, Mr. Jeong, was admitted to Seoul National University through the 2020 academic year regular admission general track. Prior to that, he had been repeatedly bullying classmates at his high school, which led to a forced transfer.

A poster criticizing lawyer Jeong Sun-shin, who was appointed and then dismissed as the head of the National Investigation Headquarters, is posted on the bulletin board of the Central Library at Seoul National University.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Mr. Jeong’s side filed a lawsuit to cancel the transfer and pursued an administrative appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, but ultimately lost. Afterward, instead of applying through the early admission track that requires a detailed review of the school records (saenggibu), he chose the regular admission track, which reflects 100% of the CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) scores, and was admitted to Seoul National University.

Although the school violence facts about Mr. Jeong surfaced belatedly and led to lawyer Jeong’s resignation, the repercussions have not subsided. Calls have been made to make school violence disciplinary records a mandatory factor in the regular admission process as well.

The Ministry of Education has also announced that it will review ways to apply related measures. On May 27, Deputy Minister of Education Jang Sang-yoon said at the National Assembly Education Committee plenary session, "We will carefully listen to opinions that school violence disciplinary actions must be reflected in the regular admission process as well," adding, "We will consider how to effectively implement this in practice."

Similar cases have occurred before. When issues of school violence among athletes arose, the government in February 2021 established the "Measures to Eradicate Violence in School Sports Teams and Improve the Sports Human Rights Protection System," mandating that school violence disciplinary records be included in the school records for the special athletic admission track.

However, there are concerns that revising the admission system every time a scandal breaks out may only serve as a temporary fix. For example, if school violence records are reflected in the regular admission process, there are worries that litigation related to school violence will become even more rampant. Since college entrance issues are sensitive in Korean society, conflicts between students over school violence could escalate into messy lawsuits involving mutual accusations.

Questions have also been raised about whether such admission system reforms are an appropriate solution to eradicate school violence. Some argue that the educational role of guidance and reform in schools would disappear, and completely depriving offenders of educational opportunities is unfair.

Lee Seok-rok, former admissions officer at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said in an interview with KBS Radio’s "Choi Kyung-young’s Strong Current Affairs," "Students who have been disciplined for school violence can reflect and reform themselves. Labeling school violence as their original sin and fundamentally blocking their university admission could be problematic," adding, "There is an opinion that a track providing opportunities should also exist."

However, he added, "Our society has been lenient toward school violence until now," and "Whether or not to impose disciplinary measures for violence should be strictly reflected in admissions as well."

The Ministry of Education plans to prepare a reform plan for the school violence-related admission system by the end of this month. On June 2, Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, said in an interview with CBS Radio’s "Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show," "Legal measures related to school violence are important, but fundamentally changing school culture is even more crucial," adding, "We intend to devise fundamental countermeasures that include all of these aspects."

He continued, "We will thoroughly review the long-term impacts, as well as short-term measures and various side effects."

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