Headline backlash: Does TOEIC score reflect level of ethics?

The headline shown in this captured image reads: “A big company employee with 950 points in TOEIC robs jewelry shop due to private loan.” This headline has raised many readers’ eyebrows and they have questioned why the TOEIC score is included. / Korea Times file

By Park Si-soo

Are someone’s ethics and their Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) score related?

An absurd headline on a news story from South Korea’s state-run news wire, Yonhap, has raised eyebrows of many readers. The headline in question is: “A big company employee with 950 points in TOEIC robs jewelry shop due to private loan.” The story was published at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The score was included to highlight the ability of the robbery suspect, surnamed Lee, 27, allowing him to join one of the nation’s biggest companies as an engineer. But many readers feel awkward about it.

“Why does the story put the TOEIC score in the headline?” a netizen (ID: diwlxxxx) wrote. Another (ID: chlcxxxx) expressed a similar opinion.

“I clicked into the story after being hooked by the TOEIC score in the headline,” a reader (ID: kmb2xxxx) wrote.

The story, first published by Yonhap, was reproduced with similar headlines by three other news outlets.

Meanwhile, the suspect reportedly broke into a jewelry shop in Daegu at 5:54 a.m. on Sept. 23 and stole more than 530 rings and necklaces valued at 315 million won ($281,450). Police caught him recently and he reportedly admitted to his crime.

He resigned from the company after being caught, according to Yonhap.