Has anyone taken the Korean driving test and if so, could you shed some light on what makes it so difficult?
A 68-year-old South Korean woman this week signed up to take her driving test once again — after failing to earn a license the first 771 times.
The woman, identified only as Cha, first took the written portion of the exam in April 2005, said Choi Young-cheol of the Driver’s License Agency in the southwestern city of Jeonju.
At the time, she made her living selling goods door-to-door and figured she would need a car to help her get around, Choi told CNN.
She failed the test. She retook the test the next day and failed again. And again. And again.
Pensioner gears up for 772nd driving test – CNN.com
My suspicion is that knowing how things work in Korea, women drivers often face a more difficult exam just on the basis of being female, and hence must resort to sexual innuendoes in order to pass; therefore, this granny simply will never pass based on both sex and age.
06/02/2009 at 1:04 am Permalink
I think it’s the writing part of the test she keeps failing. . . my guess would be that she’s illiterate, and she keeps retaking the test on the “even a blind squirrel finds nuts”/”an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters will eventually type out the complete works of William Shakespeare” principle.
06/02/2009 at 2:18 am Permalink
My guess is illiteracy too.
06/02/2009 at 2:23 am Permalink
“and hence must resort to sexual innuendoes in order to pass”
What does this even mean. I’ve read this last sentence a dozen times but can’t follow the logic.
Surely she didn’t fail because she’s not good at taking the test or didn’t study; it must be that she failed because they made a separate, more difficult test for women (????). But knowing how Korea, a primitive nation where women can’t vote or get jobs, works, it’s a surprise she’s allowed to take a test at all, or even leave the house without spousal supervision, am I right?
06/02/2009 at 6:02 am Permalink
It’s good to know that some of these bloggers have such a good grasp on Korean society. All of those other idiots think she failed because she couldn’t drive well.
06/02/2009 at 10:49 am Permalink
“and hence must resort to sexual innuendoes in order to pass”
What does this even mean. I’ve read this last sentence a dozen times but can’t follow the logic.
In Mark’s mind, all Korean women are whores. It’s the theme that connects almost all his comments. Now does the “sexual innuendoes” comment make sense?
06/02/2009 at 11:23 am Permalink
Don’t read into it too much; it is what it is. A hundred bucks says she’d pass if given a female exam proctor.
06/02/2009 at 12:40 pm Permalink
I DO know a pretty, YOUNG lady whose driving instructor tried to hold her hand during a driving lesson. She changed driving schools, and I think she also complained to the school about their employee being a creep. This is a pensioner: I hardly think sex plays into the plight of 68-year-old Korean ladies.
Not to mention, the article you linked specifically says she has been failing the written part of the exam, not the road test. The gender of the exam proctor is irrelevant when she can’t even make it to that part of the driving test.
Plus, she’s an older Korean lady: if you’ve ever seen a shouting match in a produce market, you know that older Korean ladies usually DO get their way, when there are people involved who can be browbeaten into submission by histrionics. A written exam can’t be bluffed that way, too bad for her, or maybe good for the rest of the people on the roads and sidewalks in her hometown.
06/02/2009 at 9:07 pm Permalink
Oh, for Christ’s sake. There comes a point after around say, maybe, 100 failures where the black/white thinking of ignorance fails and one must think outside the box…I’m only suggesting an alternative reason for 771 failures, which makes sense from what I’ve seen in Korea. Take it with a grain of salt.
By the way, your comment would have sounded better if written by your Nora Park moniker.
07/02/2009 at 8:51 am Permalink
I’m only suggesting an alternative reason for 771 failures, which makes sense from what I’ve seen in Korea. Take it with a grain of salt.
Okay. And take this with a grain of salt, but come on, you seem to see a sexual ulterior motive in an awful lot of things, including a 68-year-old woman repeatedly failing a license exam. You say that this is what you see, but it sounds like a selective gaze, judging by the types of comments you make. Take it with a grain of salt and my apologies for sounding so harsh. Some of your comments, like “outpost of tranny” on some post a long time ago, maybe me laugh coffee out my nose, so take it for what it’s worth. You obviously are a loving and dedicated father, so regardless of my opinion on that, you’re still a decent chap, I’m sure.
By the way, your comment would have sounded better if written by your Nora Park moniker.
Maybe it would have. Maybe someone will write another one and we’ll see how it sounds, eh?
07/02/2009 at 2:01 pm Permalink
I confess, I do see sexual hedonism, financial hedonism, and ch’emyon hedonism as the three forces which can be used to explain most actions of Coreans.
07/02/2009 at 6:02 pm Permalink
“It’s good to know that some of these bloggers have such a good grasp on Korean society.”
What grasp would that be? What does Korean society have to do with this?
“All of those other idiots think she failed because she couldn’t drive well.”
To be fair, in the first article, there was no mention that it was the written test that was failed, just that she failed. Also, one usually doesn’t equate failing the written test 771 times when the passing grade is only a paltry 60%, especially when a couple years back an old ajosshi failed the ROAD test more than 100 times (I forget the exact number).
10/11/2009 at 1:01 pm Permalink
Well, she finally passed the written exam last Wednesday after 950 tries.