Korean tutor gets suspended sentence in U.S. exam leak scandal

By Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean court has handed down a suspended prison sentence to a cram school tutor for leaking test answers from the U.S. SAT college entrance exam, a ruling obtained on Thursday showed.

The sentence, handed down on Wednesday, was one year in prison with a two-year reprieve, the heaviest punishment in a case against 22 defendants that led to the cancellation of the SAT college entrance exam in South Korea in 2013.

The tutor, only identified by her surname Kim, was also found guilty of evading taxes when managing the cram school, according to a court ruling provided by the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday.

The defendants included brokers, tutors and owners of private “test-prep” schools charged with selling or offering unreleased SAT papers to students.

Another tutor also received a suspended eight-month jail term for copyright infringement and tax evasion and four tutors were fined each up to five million won ($4,350) for copyright violations. The others are awaiting verdicts.

In May 2013, the U.S. College Board, which owns the SAT, canceled the sitting of the exam in South Korea because of leaked questions. It was the first time the organization scrapped an SAT sitting across an entire country.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)