hankyoreh

A study abroad fair in Seoul. Photo not directly related to content discussed in article. (Kim Jin-su, staff photographer)

Children from wealthy South Korean families were admitted to elite US universities through methods including the submission of falsified high school transcripts, it has emerged. Evidence also indicates that South Korean college admission brokers were involved in the process and attempted to deliver thousands of dollars in bribes to US university officials. With methods similar to those employed in a controversial incident last year in which Hollywood stars and other wealthy figures provided large amounts of money to elite private universities to help their children gain admission -- an event likened to the popular South Korean miniseries “SKY Castle” -- this marks the first reported case of South Korean students gaining admission the same way.

According to an investigation by the Hankyoreh on Oct. 13, the intelligence crime investigation division of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency booked four people without indictment, including a 31-year-old identified by the surname Jeong, on charges of fraud and obstruction of duties for using the methods to help South Korean students gain admission to elite US universities. Police plan to refer the four to prosecutors within the month with a recommendation to indict.

Jeong and the other individuals are suspected of using falsified high school transcripts in 2016 to 2017 to help at least three students gain admission at institutions such as New York University and Columbia University, including the son of the president of a South Korean small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME). The son, who was notified of his admission to NYU’s Stern School of Business in December 2016, graduated from high school in the US, but the suspects allegedly provided NYU with a transcript stating that he had received high grades for three straight years at a science high school in South Korea. In addition to providing the student with previously leaked SAT questions and instructing him to memorize the answers, Jeong is alleged to have written an admissions essay on his behalf.

Evidence also indicates that Jeong may have attempted to bribe US university officials. Jeong allegedly demanded amounts ranging from 150 million (US$1,310) to as much of 900 million won (US$7,861) from students’ parents, explaining to them that admission was “through a donation-based system requiring donations to the university.” But the donation-based systems operating at US universities involve the assignment of weighted scores to legacies such as alumnus family members; no systems operate under the methods described by Jeong, who indicated that admission could be secured in exchange for a certain amount of money. In an email to the Hankyoreh, an NYU official stressed that there is no system that provides admission letters in exchange for donations.

The director of one SAT academy claimed to have received a proposal from Jeong to work together in 2016.

“[Jeong] explained that we could get [students] admitted by giving money to university admissions officers and others, and even mentioned specific amounts of money for different universities,” the academy director said.

In their investigation, police are considering both the possibility of the money received from students’ parents having actually been given to universities as bribes, along with the possibility that the suspects deceived the parents and split the amount with fellow brokers. A police official said they could “not confirm the specifics.”

Two of the students did not agree to meet Jeong’s financial demands, and were not ultimately admitted to the universities in question. The third, who had graduated from a high school in the US, was confirmed to have been admitted to Columbia with a transcript from a South Korean high school. An employee for a university admission consulting business since around 2014, Jeong is reported to have handled US university admission duties for the children of senior public officials and the owners of large businesses and SMEs. In a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on Oct. 13, Jeong denied the allegations, insisting that they had “never forged any documents.”

By Lee Jae-yeon, staff reporter

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