Education ministry requests police investigation over CSAT collusion cases

Jul 04, 2023, 12:14 pm

AsiaToday reporter Park Ji-sook

The Ministry of Education will request the Korean National Police Agency to investigate two cases after receiving reports on alleged irregularities in the private education industry. It also decided to request the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to look into ten cases.

Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon made the announcement in a briefing at the Government Complex Sejong on Monday after holding discussions on tackling such irregularities with the police agency, FTC as well as metropolitan and provincial education offices.

The ministry said it received a total of 261 reports related to “private education cartels and irregularities” from May 22 to June 2.

Among the reports, the ministry decided to ask the police to investigate cases involving alleged collusion between private academies and bodies charged with writing questions of state-administered university entrance exam, known in Korean as “suneung.”

It also asked the FTC to investigate large private academies that allegedly exaggerated students’ suneung results and publishing companies that advertised the participation of writers of the college entrance exam.

The ministry has been conducting fact-finding, legal review, consultation with related ministries, and joint inspections on the reported cases. It will request the police agency if there is a suspected criminal case among the reports under review, and ask the FTC to investigate large private academies suspected of violating the Marking Advertising Act.

In addition, the ministry will transfer reports involving violation of obligation to posting tuition fees, exceeding the number of students in the classroom, and other irregularities to the corresponding local education offices while conducting a joint inspection with the municipal and provincial education offices on major issues to take strict measures and express the government’s determination.

“The FTC, the National Police Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, and the Korea Internet Monitoring Foundation will do their best to establish close cooperation with the Ministry of Education and to take prompt and strict measures in order to eradicate the cartel and absurdity in private education sector,” the vice minister said.

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