Overview
- Oh Seung-keol stepped down as head of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, taking responsibility for the English section’s outcome and process.
- Just over 3% of candidates earned the top English grade—about 3.11%—the lowest share since absolute grading began in 2018.
- The agency issued an apology, saying the test did not meet the intended difficulty level or the goal of easing students’ academic burden.
- Officials acknowledged several items were rewritten late, and educators and students questioned passages involving Kant vs Hobbes, time and clocks, video-game avatars, and the term “culturtainment.”
- The controversy drew wide international attention to a high-stakes exam that halts flights during English listening, renewing debate over fairness and what the test should measure.