A student has been found to have entered a prestigious college under the admission officer system although he apparently participated in a gang sexual violence against a middle school girl during his high school days.

Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul said recently that a 19-year-old freshman was allowed into the university in August last year through a screening of leadership by admission officers.

A letter of recommendation from his teacher underlining that he did a lot of volunteer work and the letter of self-introduction were critical in his admission to the college, according to the school authorities.

However, the student had been on trial without physical detention for assaulting a middle school girl 15 of his friends in May 2010 when he was a second grader at a high school in Daejeon. There was no remark about the fact in the recommendation by his teacher, said a Sungkyunkwan spokesperson.

“There was no remark about the sexual attack in the self-introduction letter, the letter of recommendation and his school record. In the recommendation, he was depicted as excellent in terms of personality,” said Kim Yun-bae, chief of the admission affairs of the university. “We will cancel his admission if he is confirmed to have participated in the sexual assault.”

He said that the university will decide on the matter in a screening committee meeting, after checking trial records, his explanation and investigation of the high school.