The Full Story of the 'Top Student' Mom's Exam Paper Theft... Mother Arrested, Daughter Expelled

[Financial News] The Andong community was turned upside down by an incident where a former teacher and a parent attempted to steal exam papers at a girls' high school in Andong, Gyeongbuk, and were caught by the police. This student has reportedly always been the top student in the school.

According to Andong Police Station on the 16th, the incident occurred around 1:20 AM on the 4th at a girls' high school in Andong, Gyeongbuk. Former temporary teacher A (31), who worked at the school until February last year, entered by scanning her fingerprint at the entrance, accompanied by B (48), the mother of a senior student at the school.

They broke into the third-floor teachers' office where the final exam papers were stored and attempted to steal them when the security system went off. Startled, they fled in a hurry but were arrested by the police the next day.

A, a temporary Korean language teacher, had worked at the school until February last year and resigned, but her fingerprint was still registered in the school's security system, allowing her access to the teachers' office. Knowing the school well, A is believed by the police to have easily entered the teachers' office to steal extra printed exam papers.

School employee C assisted the intrusion by not locking the classroom door where the exam papers were kept. It was also confirmed that A and B deleted school CCTV footage after being caught by the security system.

Despite entering the teachers' office by correctly entering the password, the security system went off due to a system error.

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education explained that they were caught on the hallway CCTV entering and exiting the third-grade teachers' office for about 2-3 minutes.

According to the school, A entered the school at least 7 times since resigning in February last year. Given that most of these visits were at night during exam periods, it is highly likely that this was not A's first offense.

B is known to have transferred 2 million won to A during each midterm and final exam period, totaling about 20 million won over two years. The police believe this money was in exchange for stealing the exam papers.

A and B first met in 2020 as a teacher and parent. When B's daughter entered high school in 2023, A was her homeroom teacher in the first year. There are also claims that A provided private tutoring to B's daughter, which is illegal under current law, and the police are investigating this as well.

B's daughter, D, is currently a senior and has maintained top grades, including being the top student in the school. However, the school held an academic performance management committee on the 14th and decided to expel B's daughter. All her past exam scores will also be marked as zero.

On the same day, the Andong Branch of the Daegu District Court issued an arrest warrant for A, and on the 15th, B was also arrested. The police plan to investigate B's daughter for obstruction of business.


moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter