Mother seeks part-time worker for son's homework

By Lee Ji-hye

A mother has posted a “job offer” on a prestigious Korean university’s online community board offering to pay people to do her son’s school assignments.

Titled, “Part-time job: Middle school science project,” the job description uploaded on Yonsei University’s Career Development System explained in detail the conditions of the so-called “employment.”

“Seeking students majoring in science-related studies attending Yonsei University,” the post read, asking prospective employees to “refrain from plagiarizing or copying from the Internet.”

The project was described as a "performance assessment," which accounts for a heavy portion of middle and high school students' overall grades.

“The job requires turning in a blueprint on an A4-sized paper for a creative science invention using recycled material,” the post stated, offering up to 100,000 won ($90) per project to be done twice a year.

The post was deleted from the job portal site within two days.

“There must have been a mix-up,” a worker at the university’s career center said. “By our standards, we do not allow personal posts like these to be published online.”

The university's job portal site is exclusively for students and graduates, with a login id number and password required.

However, this post is not the first of its kind.

According to Yonhap News Agency, various online communities seek “homework agents” to write English essays, participate in academic competitions, and complete art projects as well for middle or high school students willing to pay.

Internet cafes on DaumKakao, a web portal site, such as “SOS Art,” “EZ Report,” and “Pass 8282” carry posts from people offering to be “agents” for book reports, essays, posters, speeches, science projects, and research papers.

Last October, three teachers at a girl's high school in Seoul were indicted for having helped fabricate a student’s report card with false extracurricular activities and awards in return for tens of millions of won.