Prosecution indicts 22 for leaking SAT questions

Prosecutors said Sunday they have indicted 22 individuals, including lecturers at private education institutions, for allegedly circulating and teaching with leaked questions from a U.S. college admissions test.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said eight brokers face charges of selling leaked questions from earlier Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs), while 14 heads and teachers from

12 cram schools are suspected of using such materials in their classes. They have been indicted without physical detention, according to prosecutors.

One of the brokers, surnamed Kim, purchased SAT questions online and sold them back to students, cram school lecturers and other brokers for a total of more than 220 million won (US$207,000), prosecutors said.

Another person surnamed Kim, who runs a language institute, allegedly traveled to Guam in March last year to take photos of SAT questions, and later paid four students 100,000 won each to memorize SAT questions and report them back to his institute for future lectures.

A third Kim, who heads a separate language institute, is suspected of paying 47 million won for leaked SAT questions online and using them in classes.

Unauthorized copying and distribution of SAT questions is prohibited, but selected questions can be purchased through legal channels recognized by the U.S.-based Educational Testing Service (ETS), which develops SAT questions and administers the tests. The College Board, a New York-based non-profit organization, owns the SAT.

In July this year, the College Board cut the number of SAT dates offered in South Korea from six to four, following news of pervasive leaks of SAT questions among cram schools here. (Yonhap News)