A story about Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin’s son nearly acing South Korea’s national college entrance exam has already made headlines in the country, but the buzz did not stop there.
The news quickly leapt across the Pacific and began circulating among Korean mothers in the United States, where parents are reacting with equal parts envy and fascination.
Parents abroad said they were struck by how a Samsung scion managed to excel within South Korea’s intensely competitive school system.
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Many expressed surprise that he stayed in South Korea for his entire education rather than joining the steady stream of students heading overseas, especially the US.
Park Sun-young, chair of the new Truth and Reconciliation Committee, praised both the result and the family’s approach to schooling in a widely shared social media post.
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She wrote that the senior at Whimoon High School “missed only one question on the CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) this year” and had remained “first in his class” since middle school.
