Prosecutors have sought a one-year prison term for Hyun Woo-jin, 39, a "star instructor" accused of illegally trading mock exam questions for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) by paying large sums to serving schoolteachers.
At a final hearing on the 24th on charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, held before Senior Judge Lee Jae-wook at the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Single-Judge Division 10, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Hyun to one year in prison.
Prosecutors also sought one-year prison terms each for two serving teachers who provided questions to Hyun and one official from a private education company.
"Trading questions over several years and receiving hundreds of millions of won fundamentally undermines trust in public education, and its legitimacy cannot possibly be recognized," prosecutors said. "When serving teachers who set school exam questions sell them to academies, students can gain access to them in advance, which also deepens educational inequality."
They added, "The defendants continue to deny the crimes to this day and show no remorse."
In his final statement, Hyun denied all charges. "Three years ago, I was singled out as the top figure in the private education cartel, which is how I ended up here," he said. "It pains me greatly that all the hard work done by school teachers seems to have been denied."
He continued, "I cannot agree with a single thing the prosecutors have said. I can only think that the standards are ambiguous. I ask for a clear ruling."
Hyun was indicted last December on charges of conspiring with an official from a private education company to hand over a total of 346 million won to two serving teachers from 2020 to 2023 in return for being provided with math exam questions.
He is also accused of transferring 75 million won under the name of another teacher's spouse.
