Actor Lee Bum-soo, who has been accused of abusing his power and favoring certain students at Shinhan University, has tendered his resignation.

Lee had been teaching performing arts for the past 10 years at the university and was also appointed dean of the Performing Arts Department.

According to Shinhan University on Tuesday, Lee submitted his resignation on Jan. 27, citing "personal reasons." The university is conducting an internal investigation into the claims and therefore has not yet accepted Lee's resignation. The school suspended Lee from his roles as a professor and dean on Jan. 19.

The accusations against Lee first surfaced online last November when some of his students posted that he "favors richer students and gives them higher grades."

The students also complained that Lee abused his power to frequently change the time of his classes.

Lee, through his law firm YK, has denied the accusations, insisting that the course he taught was a non-compulsory major course and that the classes are divided based on students' grades, not their wealth, which is impossible for Lee to find out.



BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]