By Lee Hyo-sik
A growing number of people taking the Korean language proficiency exam in Southeast Asia have been caught cheating, forcing test organizers to take stronger supervisory measures to keep test sites free of irregularities.
Increasing cases of cheating have made it more difficult for those in the region to come and work in Korea as the government stops holding the language test altogether.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Tuesday that a total of 18,151 Indonesians took the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) in Jakarta and five other cities on June 25 and 26. Of them, 114 were caught cheating during the exam.
It said 53 examinees were found to have taken the test in the place of someone else, while 49 were expelled from test sites for not surrendering their cell phones.
The ministry suspected that more exam takers might have been involved in a systematic cheating scam using mobile phones, suspending the announcement of names of those who passed the exam on July 14. It asked the Indonesian government to investigate the case and check for any illicit activities.
Last year, a test taker was caught using someone else’s ID during the exam in Bangladesh, prompting the Korean government to cancel all scheduled tests in the South Asian nation. More and more cases of cheating have also been reported in Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries where many people seek to come to Korea and work for a higher income.
Under the law, foreigners who want to come here and work on an employment permit system should score at least 80 points out of 200 in TOPIK. The test, designed for foreigners and overseas Koreans, has four sections: grammar and vocabulary, reading, writing, and listening.
Among them, only those who received higher scores will be allowed to enter Korea as a migrant worker in accordance with quotas assigned to each country.
“We will randomly assign supervisors to overseas test sites to prevent possible collusion between proctors and exam takers. We will also require test invigilators to more closely compare test takers with their facial photos printed on legitimate ID cards,”a ministry official said.
He said the government will call for the installation of metal detectors at exam venues to prevent examinees from smuggling in cellular phones.
“We will also demand the host nation do more to crack down on cheating. Those caught for illegal behavior will be banned from taking the exam for life,” the official stressed.