Applicants who committed violence during school were not admitted to universities.

Major changes are taking place in South Korea's education system, with six major national universities in the country, including Seoul National University (SNU), refusing to admit 45 applicants who were abused during their school years despite their high academic performance.

This event marked a turning point in the approach of Korean higher education. Now, along with a student's knowledge, their morality is also considered an important criterion.

In South Korea, applicants typically apply through two main programs:

• Early admission - based on school performance, interviews, and recommendations;

• Basic (or regular) admission is carried out mainly based on the results of the national test.

Two applicants who were rejected by Seoul National University applied through regular admission, and despite their very high test scores, they were not admitted due to disciplinary circumstances, that is, cases of violence during their school years.

In fact, since 2014, Seoul National University has started deducting up to two points from the test results for applicants transferred to another school or expelled for school violence. Now other national universities have adopted a similar policy.

The event that initiated the reform

In 2023, a conflict involving the son of former prosecutor Chung Sun-sin caused public outrage. He was admitted to Seoul National University, despite being transferred to another educational institution due to school violence.

This situation caused sharp protests throughout the country. As a result, the government imposed strict rules on all universities.

Therefore, starting from the 2026 academic year, all universities will be obligated to reduce grades for applicants who committed violence during school years, regardless of the form of admission.

Although many consider this reform to be just, these decisions also raise new problems. Now many students accused of violence are trying to recruit lawyers and overturn disciplinary decisions through the courts.

Lawyers note that this process is becoming increasingly commercialized, and some law firms are turning school conflicts into a source of income.

Currently, public opinion in South Korea is divided. Some advocate for considering moral qualities when entering university. In their opinion, this is a necessary step to combat violence and strengthen social responsibility.

Others consider such a policy unfair. They say that mistakes made during adolescence destroy the possibility of future professional growth.

As a reminder, Uzbekistan recently liberalized criminal liability for minors, establishing a special procedure for recognizing a person who has served a sentence for a crime committed before reaching the age of eighteen as not convicted.