Yonsei Bribe Case Focus Now on Admissions Process

The investigation into the bribery scandal involving Mrs. Choi (62), wife of Yonsei University president Jeong Chang-yeong, is about to expand into a probe of the University’s admissions process as a whole.

Prosecutor Kim Oh-soo of the Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office said on October 31 that he plans to subpoena Choi and a Kim (50), who is alleged to have given a 200 million won bribe to Choi and receiving it back. Prosecutor Kim has yet to decide when to summon them.

Prosecutors plan to investigate whether or not President Jeong had prior knowledge about the scandal.

If prosecutors find that the president knew about his wife receiving a 200 million won bribe for special admissions consideration, he could be brought to justice as an accomplice who took bribes.

As rumors that a significant portion of students who got special admission are the children of former or current professors of the university, prosecutors are considering investigating the admissions conduct of the university as a whole.

An official of the university said, “We had 1,176 students enrolled from our special admissions process from 2003 to 2007. We are conducting our own investigation to know how many dental college students are children of faculty members.”

In the meantime, a gardener at the president’s official residence, a Mr. Jeong, said, “On October 3, I met President Jeong and talked about the president’s involvement in the scandal. He said he would take care of the matter, but he did not take any action about that.”

Mr. Jeong said, “I lent 30 million won to Choi this past January before the test result for special admissions was released.”

Previously, Mr. Jeong received a 3-month suspension and 1-year of unpaid leave because he was alleged to have taken kickbacks from a supplier.

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