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Court orders state to compensate students for ringing bell early during college entrance exam

Published: 27 Mar. 2025, 16:06

Students prepare to take 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) at a high school in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Nov. 14. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

A Seoul court on Thursday ordered the state to compensate students up to 3 million won ($2,047) each after a teacher rang the final bell one and a half minutes early during the 2023 college entrance exam.

The teacher mistook the time and rang the bell early during the Korean language portion of the College Scholastic Ability Test at Seoul's Kyungdong High School in November 2023.

A group of 43 students lodged a suit seeking compensation of 20 million won each, claiming they were disadvantaged in the test.

In ruling partially in favor of the plaintiffs, the Seoul Central District Court ordered the government to pay between 1 million won and 3 million won to each student, saying it is “obvious” they experienced emotional distress, given the significance of the test.

The students' legal representative said they planned to appeal the court decision, as the amount of compensation was too low.

Yonhap