Fake degrees prompt crackdown on online diplomas

South Korean police said Thursday they are questioning 13 private institute teachers and examining the academic qualifications of thousands of others, in a crackdown on forged degrees.

Police said the 13 in Daegu, 220 kilometres (136 miles) south of Seoul, were suspected of buying forged degrees through online diploma brokers.

"An investigation into private institute teachers is under way in Seoul and other big cities," a National Police Agency spokesman told AFP.

The crackdown came after Shin Jeong-Ah, a director of South Korea's largest contemporary art festival, the Gwangju Biennale, was found in early July to have forged her US university degrees.

A week later South Koreans were stunned again by the news that the host of a popular radio programme which taught English had forged her degrees from a British university.

Police are examining the academic records of some 3,000 private institute teachers in southern Seoul after reports that brokers sold forged degrees online for 1.5 million won (1,643 dollars) each.

Shortcomings in South Korea's state educational system, including a failure to teach English conversation and a reliance on rote learning, prompt students to enrol for expensive extra-curricular tutoring.