K-pop stars decide whether or not to skip annual CSAT

Jang Won-young [YONHAP]

As students across the country sat down to take the annual College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) Thursday, K-pop stars who were scheduled to take the exam revealed their decisions to skip it in favor of focusing on their careers.

Jang Won-young and Liz of girl group IVE, known for recent hits such as “Eleven,” “Love Dive” and “After Like," both decided not to sit the CSAT.

“We have discussed for a long time about whether they would take their tests, but we respected the artists’ decisions to focus on their careers,” their agency Starship Entertainment said.

The agency added that the artists may choose to take the CSAT at a later date and attend college in the future, and their schedules will be reorganized accordingly.

Yoon and J of girl group STAYC, Jinni, Sullyoon and Bae of girl group Nmixx, and Minji of girl group NewJeans, who are all of test-taking age this year, also decided against sitting the exam.

Boy band members such as Jungwon of Enhypen and Park Jung-woo of Treasure also did not take the CSAT.

Actors such as Lee Yoo-jin, known for her role in JTBC drama series “SKY Castle” (2018-19) and AHn Ji-ho from Netflix original series “All Of Us are Dead” (2022) did not take their tests in a bid to focus on their respective projects.

Stars such as Jeong Seung-hwan, Kim Yeon-kyu and Won Bin of boy band ATBO and Doha, Bit, Dohyon of BAE173, Seo Young-eun, Huening Bahiyyih from Kep1er and Lee Jae-hee from Weeekly all took the exam.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]