Police identify third individual involved in Yonsei's leaked entry test materials

Home > National > Social Affairs

Police identify third individual involved in Yonsei's leaked entry test materials

Published: 18 Nov. 2024, 21:32 Updated: 18 Nov. 2024, 21:32

Test-takers of Yonsei University's early admissions natural sciences oral test enters the exam hall on Sunday afternoon. [NEWS1]

While Yonsei University has appealed a court ruling suspending the evaluation of its leaked early admission exam, police on Monday identified an additional individual involved in leaking the test materials, bringing the total number of identified to three.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on Monday that they had identified an individual who shared exam questions with the online community DC Inside. The university held its own essay entrance exam for 2025 early admissions to the natural sciences department in October. The essay questions, however, were shared online an hour before the exam began.

The investigation began when the university reported six individuals — two test-takers whose identities are already identified and four unspecified others — to police for alleged interference with business on Oct. 15. Police raided DC inside’s office on Oct. 28 and secured the IP addresses of writers who shared posts involving leaked materials.

Police believe the identified individuals are test-takers and plan to question them about how they obtained the photos of the exam and their motives for sharing the materials shortly. Efforts to track down the remaining three suspects are ongoing, according to the police.

The leak occurred on Oct. 12 when one of the test supervisors distributed exam papers an hour before the exam began. Some students reportedly took photos of the test materials and posted them online before the exam started.

Despite students demanding the test be reheld, the university refused the request, arguing that the leak did “not damage the fairness of the admission process.”

On Oct. 21, a group of students filed for an injunction to suspend the exam, which the court accepted on Friday, putting a brake on further evaluation of the affected entrance tests.

Yonsei University appealed the decision, adding that it will “determine whether to transfer the affected admissions to the regular recruitment process based on the court’s ruling on the appeal.” The Western Seoul District Court will question Yonsei for its appeal on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

As Yonsei University remains firmly opposed to conducting a retake of the exam, educators criticized the university's handling of the situation.

“Yonsei University has severely damaged the fairness of the admission process through poor exam management, impacting 10,444 students who took the exam,” wrote the Korean University Professor Association and the Korean University Professor Union in a joint statement on Monday. “The university should conduct a retake immediately to prevent further confusion in the recruitment process.”

BY WOO JI-WON [[email protected]]