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| Education ministry officials head to a room at Ewha Womans University in western Seoul to conduct a special audit of the school, Monday, over allegations that it provided favors in admissions and grading to the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, a confidant of President Park Geun-hye currently embroiled in scandal. / Yonhap |
By Kim Bo-eun
The Ministry of Education launched a special audit Monday over the alleged favoritism Ewha Womans University granted the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, President Park Geun-hye's confidant currently embroiled in a massive scandal.
The ministry sent 12 inspectors to the school to look into allegations that it provided Choi's daughter Chung Yoo-ra, a dressage competitor, special favors in admissions and grading.
Chung may face a cancelation of her admission to the university if the allegations are found to be true. This is based on measures drawn up by the education and culture ministries in March, aimed at curbing admissions irregularities extended to athletes. Based on these measures, Choi could also be subject to charges of soliciting favors from admissions officials by offering bribes.
Chung may be expelled from the sports arena, ending her athletic career.
Ewha could be subject to punitive measures: its maximum quota for freshmen in the next academic year could be cut by 10 percent.
The school started including dressage in the special admissions process for athletes in the 2015 school year, when Chung applied for admission. Suspicions are that its inclusion was for Chung.
In addition, the chief of admissions at the time reportedly told faculty members in charge of admissions to "select a student that brings a gold medal."
Chung acquired a gold medal at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, which she wore to her admissions interview. None of the other gold medalist applicants took theirs with them to the interview.
Chung won the gold medal four days after the admissions application deadline, but it is alleged that the school acknowledged the medal in evaluating her.
The school revised its rules in the spring semester this year, which gives a grade of B or above to student athletes competing in international competitions if they submit documents as evidence.
Other allegations are that Chung received good grades for classes which she barely attended or submitted poor reports to.
The ministry, which has been conducting a document inspection for the past 10 days, said that the documents submitted for her absence were insufficient and it found she was given grades for assignments she did not hand in.
There were similar findings concerning other students who entered the school through the special admissions process for athletes.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SOME) is conducting an on-site inspection of the high school Chung attended in southern Seoul.
The school was designated as a school for athletes in 2011 and Chung gained admission the following year.
She missed most of her classes in her third year yet was able to graduate with documents from the Korean Equestrian Federation that said she had been competing in international events.
Rep. An Min-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) earlier raised allegations that Choi repeatedly visited the school to hand over bribes to keep her daughter from being expelled.
