Latest news with #NorthGyeongsang
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- South China Morning Post
In South Korea, theft of exam papers puts focus on high-pressure education system
A teacher and a student's parent have been arrested in South Korea after allegedly breaking into a high school in the wee hours to steal final exam papers in a case that has renewed concerns over a decline in academic integrity and illegal tutoring. The incident took place at around 1.20am on July 4, when the teacher and the father of a reportedly high-performing student allegedly entered a high school in the city of Andong, North Gyeongsang province, according to police. They were helped by a school facilities manager who is also under arrest. The break-in was foiled when the school's security system was triggered. Police arrested the teacher shortly after, and she was detained on Monday following a pretrial hearing at a court in Daegu. The presiding judge cited the 'risk of destroying evidence and fleeing' as reasons for approving the detention. On Tuesday, the parent and the facilities manager were arrested after a separate court hearing. The parent, who is in his 40s, has been charged with trespassing and business interference, while the staff member is accused of enabling theft and unlawful entry into the school premises. Speaking to reporters before the hearing, the facilities manager said: 'I am sorry … I will cooperate fully with the investigation.' Investigators believe the trio had targeted exam materials stored at the school ahead of the final term exams. The daughter of the parent has reportedly consistently ranked at the top of her class, but it is yet to be determined whether her previous grades were linked to similar misconduct.
New York Times
13-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Stolen From Buddhist Monks, Sacred Painting Is Returned by Chicago Museum
An order of Buddhist monks in South Korea were shocked in the summer of 1989 when their temple was ransacked during a violent thunderstorm. Thieves had posed as hikers to enter the grounds of the Bomunsa temple in the North Gyeongsang province, and they sped away in a beige van with four sacred paintings. For years, guilt and anguish haunted the temple's abbot, Ham Tae-wan. Two of the stolen paintings were eventually recovered in 2014 after an extensive search in South Korea, and the thieves were prosecuted. But the trail of the last two paintings ran cold. More years passed, and the abbot became despondent. 'I have blamed myself for failing to safeguard these Buddhist paintings that are objects of faith in Korea,' he wrote in a letter. 'Not just art.' Then, in 2023, Korean government officials discovered something surprising: One of the missing paintings appeared in the online collections database for the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, listed under the wrong title. Officials alerted the monks. In August of that year, the museum received a letter from Jinwoo, president of the Jogye Order, Korea's largest sect of Buddhism. 'I hope that the museum will work with us amicably on this matter so this sacred Buddhist painting can be returned,' the president said. It is never a positive story when a stolen religious object from Asia is discovered in a Western museum. But the tale of the painting's return is an example of how Western cultural institutions can sometimes use the repatriation process to mend relationships with cultural and religious groups in other parts of the world. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
