In order to keep the precarious professions from being revoked, three Korean university professors personally wrote exam answers for students and falsified results, ultimately facing legal sanctions for obstructing normal school work. Combining reports from Korean media such as the Central Daily News and the Korea Daily News, the Kwangju District Court made a one-trial judgment on the above cases on the 22nd, ruling that the three professors and one assistant involved were charged with obstructing business and were fined from 1.5 million won (1,000 won = about 4.7 yuan) to 6 million won respectively.
The court investigation revealed that due to the decline in the school‘s school age population, the number of students in the relevant majors at the school sharply decreased, and the school demanded that professors “garantise admission and retain students.” Under the pressure of the survival of the academic departments, the persons involved broke through the academic bottom line, not only directly participating in admission, but also completing test answers for students and self-scoring them multiple times in the face of under-performing grades and possible expulsion, seriously interfering with the school‘s grades evaluation and student registration management order. The verdict revealed that between 2022 and 2023, the persons involved implemented 4 to 29 fraudulent tests and grades on behalf of students, respectively, and one of the teaching assistants had even taken the tests on behalf of relatives and included the grades in the official score evaluation.
The case also brought up student “extortion” behavior. Some students involved, after discovering a professor‘s violations, did not report it through legitimate channels, but instead threatened to expose it to the education department. Through phone calls, text messages, and face-to-face negotiations, they demanded that the professor return their tuition fees for the first semester of the 2022 academic year, totaling about 3.6 million won. The court determined that their behavior constituted a failed intimidation attempt and sentenced them to a fine of 1.5 million won.
The Associated Press commented that the case reflects the institutional failure of some universities under pressure to recruit students and survive in academic departments amid the sharp decline in the school age population. South Korea‘s 6-to-21-year school age population fell from 9.181 million in 2014 to 7.092 million in 2024, a decrease of more than 22%, and is expected to fall further to 5.121 million in 2034. Under this impact, many local universities have fallen into a “empty shell” predicament, even having to pay off debts through the sale of assets.