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Korea's human rights commission rules professor violated student privacy by exposing grades

Published: 29 Sep. 2025, 17:03

The office building of National Human Rights Commission of Korea in Jung District, central Seoul [YONHAP]

Korea’s human rights watchdog ruled on Monday that a university professor violated students’ privacy by exposing their grades and evaluation details to classmates in a mass email.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said it recommended the university president take measures to prevent the leakage of personal information during the grading process.

The case began when a student filed a grade appeal after taking a course taught by the professor who was a part-time lecturer. The professor sent an email to the entire class containing the names, exam scores, evaluation comments, rankings and final grades of four students who had appealed their marks.

One of the students later filed a complaint with the commission, arguing that the disclosure infringed on their right to informational self-determination.

The professor told the commission that the email was sent in haste and that they were unfamiliar with the school’s digital systems, which led to the failure to remove personal information before sending.

However, the commission decided that academic grades are considered personal information that can affect an individual’s social reputation, and disclosing them to third parties without consent constitutes a serious violation of human rights.

While the professor is no longer employed by the university due to the expiration of their contract, the commission said it would not pursue individual disciplinary action. Instead, it urged the university to implement preventive measures to avoid similar incidents in the future.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]