Commercialization of Academic Success

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A business startup club at Seoul National University came under fire for selling items that belonged to the university's students. The event was withdrawn in just one day after drawing sharp criticism for commercializing academic success.

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A message posted two days ago on an online community for parents, and a web site selling secondhand items. It's an advertisement of letters handwritten by Seoul National University students and the students' pens, both sold for 7,000 won to encourage prospective college students. The ad says items belonging to students with the highest college entrance exams scores will be sold first. Shortly after it was posted by a business startup club of Seoul National University, it drew sharp criticism from other SNU students.

[Soundbite] (SNU student) : "I'm sure everyone was ashamed. Items belonging to students with higher scores had a higher price. People think that this would only harm the university's reputation."

One day later, the ad was deleted, and a letter of apology was posted instead. Through the letter the students said they were unaware of the problematic nature of the ad and apologized for selling items that promote social discrimination based on people's education. Sources say the advertisement was posted to survey the demand, and nothing was actually sold. The incident happened when the students from the venture startup club were trying to come up with innovative technologies and business ideas.