An appellate court reduced the suspended prison sentence for twin sisters convicted of cheating on exams at Sookmyung Girls' High School with answers leaked by their father.

The Seoul Central District Court's appeals division on Friday sentenced the sisters surnamed Hyeon to one year, suspended for three years, reduced from the lower court's 18-month term, suspended for three years.

In its ruling, the appeals court said the sisters not only inflicted damage to other students and seriously damaged trust in the public school system, but refused to show remorse for their crimes.

The court explained that it took into consideration the fact that the father, who was the head of school administration, completed his three-year prison term and the sisters were expelled.

The sisters were indicted for obstruction of the school's evaluation duty by taking five sets of exams during their first- and second-year there in 2017 and 2018, using answer sheets leaked by their father.

Following the police investigation, the school expelled the sisters in October 2018. Their father was previously convicted of obstruction of duty and his three-year sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in March 2020.