The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on Monday that it detected cases of fraud in the admission process of two international schools here.
More than a dozen teachers and faculty from the Younghoon and Daewon International Middle School were found to have tampered with applications to admit unqualified students, the office said.
The education office has been conducting a special audit at the two special-purpose schools for elite students over alleged admission fraud since March.
At the Younghoon school, several faculty members, including the vice principal, chief of admission and chair of school affairs, were involved in the admission fraud, the office said.
The school was also found to have violated basic rules in the initial application screening process by not following the blind grading system ― marking applications with personal information redacted ― and is believed to have destroyed original marking sheets to avoid suspicion.
The office said 11 teachers from the school would be charged with fraud by prosecutors, and 10 of them will likely face disciplinary action.
Three officials from the Daewon school will also face similar charges, the education office announced on Monday, concluding its one month-long inspection.
The Younghoon school in northern Seoul first came under fire after it was revealed earlier this year that Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong’s son was admitted to a special spot reserved for students with unusual family circumstances.
The son of the divorced heir of country’s biggest conglomerate was accepted to the school last year under the special consideration category.
By Oh Kyu-wook (
596story@heraldcorp.com)
