School staffer given 3 years in jail for leaking SAT questions
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By Jung Da-min
A high school staffer has been sentenced to three years in prison for leaking test papers of the U.S. SAT college entrance exam to a broker.
The Seoul Central District Court said Friday it convicted the staffer surnamed Lee, who holds a U.S. passport, of obstruction of business for repeatedly leaking SAT exam papers over a period of a year and a half starting in 2017. Lee received a total of 203 million won ($181,300) in return for the leaked papers.
In 2009 Lee joined a high school in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, as a counselor for students wanting to apply for overseas colleges, and worked there since 2013 as an SAT coordinator managing and supervising the school's SAT-related affairs.
In mid-2017, Lee received a proposal from a broker surnamed Kim, suggesting they take advantage of the fact that the SATs are held at different times in different countries and regions.
Lee took photos of the test papers when the SATs were held here and sent them to Kim, who then had several SAT lecturers at private institutes, whom he had hired in advance, solve the questions quickly. The answers were then sent to test-takers in other countries including in Europe.
The judge said Lee's crime was serious as it caused fundamental damage to the fairness of college entrance examinations.