Chonnam National University Law School canceled courses in the Criminal Act one after another two days before course registration, fueling student complaints. With a core subject within the common scope of the bar exam suddenly canceled, critics say students are being forced to rely on private education such as cram schools or tutoring.
According to the education sector on Feb. 6, Chonnam National University Law School announced on Feb. 4 that it would cancel Criminal Act 1, a required course for first-years, and Criminal Act Practice, a first-semester course for second-years. This is because, after the professor in charge moved to Konkuk University Law School, the school failed to secure a replacement faculty member.
Chonnam National University Law School has divided the bar exam scope of "General Provisions and Specific Crimes of the Criminal Act" into three courses: Criminal Act 1, Criminal Act 2, and Criminal Act Practice. By the standard of commonly used textbooks, the coverage of Criminal Act 1 and Criminal Act Practice accounts for more than 60% of the total volume of the General Provisions and Specific Crimes. For law school students preparing for the bar exam, this effectively means these are core subjects.
For Criminal Act 1, the plan is to run it by adding students to another class. The problem is Criminal Act Practice. There is no stopgap class or other alternative in place yet. Students, who had already completed pre-registration to gauge demand ahead of course registration, say they were thrown into confusion by the sudden cancellation notice.
In particular, with annual tuition exceeding 10 million won and core subjects not being offered, some say they have no choice but to rely on private education. As of last year, the law school tuition at Chonnam National University was 5,716,000 won per semester, or 11,432,000 won a year.
A current student at Chonnam National University Law School said, "The canceled courses fall within the common scope of the bar exam and must be completed, but we can no longer learn them at school," adding, "The anxiety is great." Another student said, "Tuition is expensive, and this is no different from telling us to resort to private education if we want to pass the bar exam."
Chonnam National University Law School said it will prepare supplementary measures. A Chonnam National University official said, "Due to faculty personnel moves, cancellation was unavoidable," adding, "We plan to hold special lectures or supplementary classes during vacation periods to ensure students are not disadvantaged."
Meanwhile, according to the "2025 law school bar exam pass statistics" released by the Ministry of Justice, Chonnam National University Law School's pass rate was 39.6%. It ranked 19th out of 25 law schools and was 12.7 percentage points lower than the overall average pass rate (52.3%).