In the age of mobile phones, even bribery is going mobile.
According to the Donga Ilbo, with Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) approaching, some parents are sending teachers "white envelopes" (cash) via mobile phones.
SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile carrier, operates Giftcon services that enable a person to send a gift certificate of up to 500,000 won through a text message. The receivers can use it for purchases.
This makes it easier for some parents to send gifts to teachers, making it unnecessary to check the addresses of teachers or hire delivery services to send the packages.
A representative of a teachers' association told the vernacular newspaper that teachers should not use mobile services for bribery, which he said is not helping teachers' efforts to halt the practice.