A court has ruled that the decision to restrict a law school student from taking the bar exam after being caught with a mobile phone during the test was lawful. The student also pushed back against the proctor who demanded the phone, saying, "Bring a warrant."
The Administrative Division 12 of the Seoul Administrative Court, presided over by Chief Judge Kang Jae-won, said on the 21st that it ruled against the plaintiff on the 16th in a suit filed by A against the Minister of the Ministry of Justice seeking to overturn the suspension of eligibility to sit for the bar exam.
Earlier, the Ministry of Justice imposed a five-year suspension of eligibility to take the bar exam on A on the grounds that A possessed and used a mobile phone during the exam. Under current law, the bar exam can be taken only five times within five years from the time a law school master's degree is obtained. A five-year restriction on taking the bar exam means being unable to sit for it for life.
A then filed an administrative suit. A argued that the phone was only possessed, not used, and that no illicit materials were stored on it. A also argued that even if the grounds for the disposition were recognized, the penalty was excessively heavy compared with the misconduct, and that the Ministry of Justice deviated from and abused its discretion.
The court did not accept A's claims. It cited statements by the proctor and the proctor's assistant who were on site. They said A took something out during the test, put it under the exam paper, and glanced at it, and when the phone was discovered and submission was demanded, A refused for 3–4 minutes, saying, "Bring a warrant."
A had wrapped the phone in white paper and set the screen to display only white with no icons. The court said this was "highly unusual in light of ordinary usage." A explained that the "fortune-telling said white would be good, so white paper was attached," but the court said it was "an explanation hard to view as reasonable."
The court found that even if, as A claimed, no illicit materials were stored on the phone, it could be used by connecting to a network, so it fell under the grounds for restricting eligibility to take the bar exam. The Ministry of Justice requested a forensic examination of the phone, but A refused.