South Korea's Supreme Court on July 22, 2026, upheld a three-year and six-month prison sentence for a former pharmacy professor convicted of using graduate students' research to help his daughter gain admission to one of the country's most prestigious dental schools. The court dismissed the professor's appeal, affirming that he had fraudulently interfered with the university admissions process by directing students to produce research that strengthened his daughter's application.
The ruling upheld the conviction of Lee, a 67-year-old former professor at Sungkyunkwan University's School of Pharmacy, who was found guilty of obstruction of business for improperly influencing the admissions process at Seoul National University's School of Dentistry.
According to the court, Lee instructed graduate students between 2016 and 2017 to conduct animal experiments and prepare a scientific paper associated with his daughter, who was then an undergraduate student.
The paper was later used to support her successful application to Seoul National University's School of Dentistry, where she was admitted in 2018.
Investigators also found that Lee instructed students to manipulate portions of the experimental data so the findings would better support the study's hypothesis, adding to the research misconduct identified during the investigation.
The Supreme Court also upheld the conviction of Lee's daughter, who received a 10-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
Court findings stated that she was listed as a co-author of the research paper despite participating in the experiments only two or three times as an observer. The study was later published in an SCI-indexed journal, presented at academic conferences, and received an academic award. Those academic achievements were subsequently included in her dental school application.
The appellate court found that Lee abused his authority over graduate students, who were in a position where refusing a professor's instructions would have been difficult.
The court further found that he ordered students to alter research data and later attempted to influence their statements after the investigation began while shifting responsibility to others. Judges said these actions reflected the seriousness of the misconduct and supported the custodial sentence.
The Supreme Court dismissed Lee's appeal, finding no legal errors in the lower court's judgment.
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The case first came to light during a South Korean Ministry of Education investigation in 2019 into university admissions irregularities.
Following the investigation:
Sungkyunkwan University dismissed Lee in June 2019.
Seoul National University revoked his daughter's admission to its School of Dentistry in August 2019.
His daughter later challenged the university's decision in court but was unsuccessful.
(Rh/ARC/MSM)