[Exclusive]””””If you don’t have money, take a loan”””” University associate professor who defrauded students of 2.1 billion won sent to school

When credit lending was blocked due to Mr. A’s circumstances, the associate professor had Mr. A deposit 2 million won into his account first. They also forced him to open a negative bank account and raise about 5 million won. Mr. A repeatedly refused, but he had no choice but to follow the associate professor’s pressure because he was worried that his grades would be disadvantaged.

The Daejeon Police Agency sent Mr. Lee, an associate professor at the Cheongju Campus of Korea Polytechnic University, to the prosecution in August on charges of violation of the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud) and violation of the Act on Regulation of Quasi-Receipt Acts. Since 2020, Mr. Lee is suspected of causing financial damage worth approximately 2.14 billion won on a total of 576 occasions in the name of investments and borrowings from fellow faculty members, current students, and graduates.

According to the Faculty Disciplinary Committee’s disciplinary resolution submitted by Korea Polytech, a school corporation, to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Wi-sang, a member of the National Assembly’s Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, on the 17th, the university confirmed through an internal audit that Mr. Lee had illegally recommended investment and forced financial transactions. Accordingly, the disciplinary committee dismissed Mr. Lee last August.

In addition to the fact that Mr. Lee forced the student in charge to open a negative bank account for loans, the disciplinary resolution also included the fact that he had continuously recommended investment to a fellow faculty member since 2023 and forced him to make an additional deposit, saying, “If you do not deposit the additional amount, it will be difficult to guarantee the principal amount of the initial deposit.” It was confirmed that the teacher in question made a statement to the effect that ‘I am under extreme stress to the extent that my daily life is difficult because I have not even received my principal back from Mr. Lee yet.’

To date, the number of victims identified by the police is five. However, in a survey conducted by the university audit office last year, about eight faculty and staff members revealed that they had received investment recommendations from Mr. Lee, so the number of victims and the amount of damage are expected to increase further.

According to Representative Kim’s office, the number of cases of misconduct at Korea Polytechnic University counted from January to August this year was a total of 21, significantly exceeding the annual average of 12.2 times over the previous five years (2020-2024).

In particular, severe disciplinary actions such as dismissal, dismissal, demotion, and suspension have already increased from an average of 2.6 times per year to 11 times in August of this year. There is one case of dismissal, three cases of dismissal, and seven cases of suspension. In addition to the dismissal of Mr. Lee, who was suspected of fraud, it was confirmed that the grounds for severe disciplinary action were drunk driving, verbal abuse of colleagues, and workplace harassment.

In particular, drunk driving cases increased significantly from an average of 0.8 times per year to a total of 5 times in August of this year. In the case of a professor who caused two weeks worth of casualties due to drunk driving in December of last year and is currently on trial without detention after refusing to take a breathalyzer test by a police officer who was dispatched, a one-month suspension was decided. There was also a case where the driver’s license was revoked due to drunk driving, and it was confirmed that he had been ‘driving without a license’ during the period without a driver’s license before being reissued, and he was suspended for three months.

University officials told Money Today

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He told 300 (The 300), “”We have strengthened the disciplinary standards in a way that there is no longer any tolerance for internal misconduct,” and “I hope you will pay attention to the fact that public service discipline is being established through active and intensive internal purification efforts.”

Kim Wi-sang, a member of the People Power Party, criticized, “It is impossible for such unreasonable crimes and misconduct to occur in national vocational education institutions,” and “The Ministry of Employment and Labor, which has the duty of managing and supervising affiliated organizations, cannot escape responsibility.”

Korea Polytechnic University is a public vocational education institution under the Ministry of Employment and Labor. It started as the National Vocational Training Institute in 1968 and currently has 35 campuses nationwide, including Daejeon, Cheongju, and Pohang.