‘문항 거래’ 현우진 1심 무죄…법원 “부적절하다고 모두 형사 처벌 할 수 없어”

Former teacher Heun Joon was acquitted of charges at his first trial, with the Seoul Central District Court's criminal division ruling him not guilty on December 26th. Judge Jae-ul Kim dismissed the charges against Heun Joon, who had been accused of violating the "Favoritism Compensation Prohibition Act" for receiving money and providing exam questions to current teachers.

The prosecution had initially sought one year of imprisonment for each of the four defendants, but the judge determined that the money provided was not subject to the Act's prohibition. The Act prohibits receiving over 100,000 won from the same person within a year or 300,000 won annually from all sources. However, the court found that any money given to Heun Joon for providing exam questions was not considered a violation of the Act.

The judge stated that while teachers who provide exam questions may violate the law governing commercial activities, the prosecutor's decision to pursue criminal charges against Heun Joon was not justified. The judge emphasized that while the law serves as a minimum standard of morality, criminal penalties should be the last resort, and it would be inappropriate to impose them on all cases of perceived misconduct.

He also warned against allowing immoral reasoning to prevail in society, stating that there should still be a space for ethical considerations. Heun Joon had agreed to pay former teachers 3.46 million won in exchange for providing mathematics exam questions from 2020 to 2023, which came to light during the December 2023 trial.