Prosecutors have sought a one-year prison sentence for Hyun Woo-jin (39), a top-ranked hagwon instructor standing trial on charges of paying active teachers for questions related to the College Scholastic Ability Test, known as the Suneung.
Prosecutors made the sentencing request Friday at the closing arguments hearing before Judge Lee Jae-wook of Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 10, where Hyun and co-defendants face charges of violating the Anti-Graft Act.
Prosecutors also sought one-year prison terms for two active teachers accused of accepting money in exchange for providing the questions, as well as a person identified only as A, an employee of a textbook development company.
"Buying and selling exam questions for years and receiving hundreds of millions of won fundamentally undermines public trust in education and cannot be justified in any way," prosecutors said. They added that when active teachers who write school exam questions sell them to hagwon, enrolled students gain advance access — deepening educational inequality.
The defendants, including Hyun, maintained their innocence. Their argument is that the payments were legitimate compensation under contract and do not meet the threshold for a violation of the Anti-Graft Act.
While they acknowledged that money changed hands, they argued it constitutes "money provided on legitimate grounds, such as the performance of obligations arising from private transactions" — and is therefore not prohibited under the Anti-Graft Act.
Hyun's defense attorney said the facts of the case amount to nothing more than Hyun entering into a legitimate commercial contract to obtain questions for his teaching materials and paying accordingly. "Hyun simply provided students with high-quality problems, which is the natural duty of a math instructor who also authors textbooks," the attorney said.
In his final statement, Hyun said he was saddened by the case. "Three years ago I was singled out as the ringleader of the 'private education cartel' and ended up here. It breaks my heart that all the hard work the teachers put in has been treated as wrongdoing," he said, appealing for "a clear ruling."
Hyun is accused of conspiring with A to pay two active teachers a total of 346 million won ($208,000) between March 2020 and May 2023 in exchange for math exam questions.
He also faces charges of wiring 75 million won under the name of another teacher's spouse.
The first-instance verdict is scheduled for Aug. 26.
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