The police said the broker had operated unlicensed private tutoring studios in southern Seoul from January 2021 to February 2023 to provide a combined 679 vocal music lessons to students preparing for university entrance exams. (Image courtesy of Pixabay/CCL)
SEOUL, June 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Over a dozen professors, who illegally tutored students preparing for music college entrance exams and gave high scores to them as examiners for practical tests, have been referred to the prosecution for a possible indictment, police said Monday.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it has turned 14 music college professors, one broker and two parents of students over to the prosecution on charges of obstruction of business and violating private teaching and anti-graft laws.
The disgraced professors include a former head of Seoul National University (SNU) College of Music and the parents are accused of giving luxury handbags and cash to professors after their children were accepted to their first-choice universities.
The police said the broker had operated unlicensed private tutoring studios in southern Seoul from January 2021 to February 2023 to provide a combined 679 vocal music lessons to students preparing for university entrance exams.
The 14 professors allegedly received payments worth 130 million won (US$94,400) after offering 244 vocal music lessons to students in collusion with the broker, the police said. Under the current law, it is illegal for a university professor to provide private tutoring.
The professors reportedly took 200,000 to 300,000 won per person in cash after giving 30 to 60 minutes of tutoring.
Of them, five were found to have committed college admissions fraud while serving as examiners for practical music tests at SNU and three other universities.
(Yonhap)
