82-year-old grandmother takes this year's Korean college entrance exam
![The 82 year-old Kim Jeong-ja, the oldest person to take the college entrance exam this year, enters the Seoul Girls’ High School in Mapo, western Seoul, on Thursday. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2023/11/16/d2ded626-7aa0-45d5-9fcf-c59da94ddd9a.jpg)
The 82 year-old Kim Jeong-ja, the oldest person to take the college entrance exam this year, enters the Seoul Girls’ High School in Mapo, western Seoul, on Thursday. [YONHAP]
An 82-year-old woman, Kim Jeong-ja, was the oldest person to take the college entrance exam this year.
Kim walked into the Seoul Girls’ High School in Mapo, western Seoul, on Thursday to take the College Scholastic Ability Test while being cheered by classmates.
Kim, born in 1941 in Japan, moved to Masan, South Gyeongsang, after Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule.
However, the Korean War broke out in 1950, denying her an education at an elementary school.
Even after the war, she had to work because she was the eldest of eight children in a poverty-stricken family.
Kim started to study again after her children were grown. She began attending Ilsung Women’s High School in Mapo five years ago and hasn't missed a class.
Initially unable to write her own name in Korean, she writes poems now and also studied English to communicate with her grandchildren living in the U.S.
When she appeared on a TV show four years ago, Kim said she cried at the airport when her daughter was leaving for the United States.
She said she couldn't find the departure gate because she was illiterate.
BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)