By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Police found another group of students suspected of cheating on this year’s college entrance exam using mobile phones.

The police agency of South Cholla Province on Friday said it has kicked off an investigation into eight students from a high school in Kwangju as the agency found evidence that the students teamed up and utilized text messages via mobile handsets to cheat on the exam.

Of them, police have questioned seven students in the southern city to uncover their reasons and methods for cheating, the police said.

As a result, there is a possibility that the tally for the number of violators may rise from the current 141, who were exposed on Nov. 19.

As investigations into the exam cheating develop, political circles are endorsing the interception of cell phone services in classrooms where the state-run tests are held.

Rep. Kim Suk-joon of the main opposition Grand National Party on Friday said he will promote the revision of laws concerning electrical communications to prevent cheating through cell phones, not only for the College Scholastic Ability Test but also for state-sponsored exams, including exams for selecting government officials and national qualifying tests.

Kim said he will soon submit revised laws on electrical communications, electric waves and communication privacy to the National Assembly so the laws can be passed as early as within the year.

With the new laws, devices capable of intercepting electrical communications are to be installed at examination sites for selecting government officials and judicial officials as well as state-sponsored exams for licensing real estate agents or certified public accountants.

The method is also expected to expand to privately sponsored exams such as for private universities.

Kim has estimated around 7 billion won is required to install the devices in 26,000 classrooms where college entrance exams are held.

A university student, identified as Kim, who sat in for the exam three times in place of the actual applicant, identified as Joo, was arrested Friday.

Kwangju police sent six high school seniors, who were arrested on charges of leading the group cheating scheme, to the prosecution. The prosecutors formed a team to reinvestigate allegations of the cheating scandal.

The six parents of the students who paid more than 700,000 won for cheating have told police they had no prior knowledge of their children’s cheating plans. Police are also investigating the bank accounts of parents of 30 students who contributed over 500,000 won in the scam while the bank accounts and phone records of 103 students, on the exam day, are also being examined.

In the meantime, it was found that an article posted on the Kwangju educational office’s Web site last year had reported a cheating method similar to this year’s, raising suspicions that the methods had been handed down from former students.

The police are also investigating a suspicious case in which a university student in North Cholla Province allegedly helped his friend get high scores during the exam in 2002 by sending answers through text messages to the cell phone. They questioned the student, who reportedly revealed the case at an interview with a local Internet newspaper in 2002.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr