SEOUL: A teacher and a parent of a high school student in South Korea have been arrested for breaking into a school to steal exam papers, police told AFP on Wednesday (Jul 16).
The country is known for placing extreme emphasis on academic achievement, with its annual college entrance exam forcing planes to be grounded during English listening tests.
The pair are accused of breaking into a high school in Andong, about 270km south of the capital Seoul, at around 1am on Jul 4 to steal exam papers, triggering an alarm and leading to their arrest.
“A 31-year-old teacher and the 48-year-old mother have confessed to the crime,” said a detective at the Andong Police Station, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The teacher was a private tutor for the student while working at the school, where she was employed until February last year, authorities said.
Police suspect the pair may have committed similar thefts in the past, helping the student ace academically, and that money was exchanged between the teacher and the mother.
“They tried to steal exam papers across many subjects, not confined to Korean, which the suspect was teaching,” the detective told AFP.
A school maintenance worker was also arrested for aiding the late-night breach, investigators said.
The student, who had maintained top grades since enrolling in 2023, has been expelled and her grades nullified, according to the Yonhap news agency.
It is the latest in a series of exam-related scandals in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Nearly 250 public and private school teachers were caught selling mock exam questions to private institutions over six years, earning an average of US$61,000 per person, according to the state audit body in February.
