South Korea’s exam obsession fuels millions in bribes, prison for stolen papers

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - File picture of South Korean students preparing for the annual College Scholastic Ability Test, known locally as Suneung, at a school in Seoul on November 14, 2024. — AFP pic

By Malay Mail

Thursday, 15 Jan 2026 6:22 PM MYT

SEOUL, Jan 15 — In South Korea, the race for top exam scores has become a high-stakes gamble, with bribery and theft turning classroom assessments into multimillion-won commodities.

Two recent cases show just how high the stakes have become. 

The Korea Herald reported that one involved elite private instructors paying vast sums for test questions, while another saw a mother jailed for repeatedly stealing school exam papers.

Last month, prosecutors indicted some of the country’s top private academy instructors for illegally obtaining college entrance exam prep questions from current teachers.

The indictment revealed that mathematics instructor Hyun Woo-jin sent nearly 180 million won (RM495,000) to a public school teacher over several years in exchange for questions. 

Other teachers reportedly received tens of millions of won through multiple transactions, some routed via spouses’ bank accounts.

In a similar scheme, English instructor Cho Jung-sik allegedly instructed a publishing company employee to get exam questions from teachers for private study materials. 

Prosecutors said teachers were paid over 80 million won, and unpublished government prep materials were reportedly obtained in advance.

These payments violated South Korea’s strict antigraft law, which limits monetary exchanges involving teachers. 

In total, 46 people—including education company officials and current and former teachers—were indicted, with prosecutors calling it a systematic commercialisation of test questions in the shadow economy of private education.

The obsession with scores took a darker turn in a separate case, where a mother and a temporary teacher repeatedly broke into a high school to steal exam papers. 

A school administrative official was also convicted for disabling security systems and tampering with cameras.

Investigators said the stolen papers allowed the student to memorise questions and answers in advance, keeping her top of the class throughout high school. 

She even participated in one of the break-ins. 

The scheme was uncovered only after a security malfunction triggered an investigation.

The court sentenced the mother to four and a half years and the teacher to five years, calling the crimes “extremely grave” and noting their serious impact on trust in public education. 

The student received a suspended sentence, with the ruling stressing the broader harm to other students competing honestly.

Experts say both cases reflect the same underlying problem: an entrenched obsession with exam results.

“Whether through secret payments or outright theft, exam questions were treated as leverage, not assessment tools,” said Bae Sang-hoon, an education professor at Sungkyunkwan University. 

“These cases expose the extremes of South Korea’s drive for perfect scores.”

Observers have long warned that the exam-centred culture fuels unethical behaviour and deepens inequality between students who can afford private education advantages and those who cannot, raising broader questions about fairness and trust in the education system.