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KICE President Resigns Amid Suneung English Exam Controversy

12/12/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Oh Seung-geol, president of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE), resigned on December 10, 2025 because the English section of the Suneung was excessively difficult.
The top-grade rate fell to 3.11%, the lowest since the 2018 grading change.
Oh acknowledged misalignment of the exam questions with the grading purpose.
His resignation is rare, as predecessors typically left due to test-setting errors rather than difficulty.

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Story summary

Oh Seung-geol, president of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE), resigned on December 10, 2025 because the English section of the Suneung was excessively difficult.
The top-grade rate fell to 3.11%, the lowest since the 2018 grading change.
Oh acknowledged misalignment of the exam questions with the grading purpose.
His resignation is rare, as predecessors typically left due to test-setting errors rather than difficulty.