An unprecedented incident occurred when 609 candidates’ answer sheets were missing and shredded during the essay-based grading process for the national certification examination for engineers and industrial engineers. The Korea Manpower Institute, which organized the test, said it would contact the affected candidates individually and give them a chance to take the test again.

“We found out that some of the answer sheets of the written answer type of the regular driver and industrial engineer 1 practical examination held last month on the 23rd were shredded by mistake,” the agency said, “We will take strict measures by explaining follow-up measures to the test takers and reprimanding those responsible.”

A total of 609 answer sheets were shredded, belonging to test takers who took the exam at Yeonseo Middle School in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, among 16 test centers nationwide. At the time, the answer sheets of 609 examinees in 61 categories, including construction machinery and equipment technicians, were transported in bags to the Seoul West Branch of the Korea Employment Service after the examination, but it was later confirmed that they were shredded instead of being handed over to the scoring center due to a mistake during the handover process.

“A total of 18 packages of answer sheets were delivered from 16 examination centers, but due to an employee error, one package was moved to the warehouse and only the remaining 17 packages were delivered to the scoring room,” said Er Su-bong, director of the Korea Employment Service. “After more than a month, we realized that one package was missing during the recent scoring process, but we had destroyed all the waste documents in the warehouse just a few days ago.”

The organization will be contacting all 609 affected candidates individually to arrange retesting opportunities. As the driver qualification test is a question bank and an absolute evaluation method with a score of 60 or above, the passing status of the remaining 151,188 candidates will not be affected at all.

Eo Soo-bong, chairman of the Korea Industrial Manpower Corporation, bows his head in apology before a briefing on the operation of the 2023 national technical qualification practical examination at the Ministry of Employment and Labor at the Government Sejong Building in Sejong, Sejong City, on Wednesday morning. News1

If the affected candidates take the additional test, which will be held from June 1 to 4 next month, they will be able to receive their test results on June 9, the date of the announcement of the successful candidates for the regular one-time practical test for engineers and industrial engineers, which was originally scheduled. “We will ensure that there is no disadvantage in utilizing the qualification, such as taking the local public service exam on June 10,” said Mr. Er. “If there are people who cannot take the exam on June 1-4, we will specially allow them to take a separate exam.”

Those who need to meet the application period for the second round of the regular driver and industrial engineer exams, which will be held on March 27-30, can take the additional exam on March 24-25. Those who do not wish to retake the exam will receive a full refund. Candidates can take the test at any location of their choice. “It’s a minimum of six more attempts, and we’ll make sure that the retest is at the same level of difficulty so there’s no penalty,” said Mr. Er.

In addition, the institute is also considering additional compensation, such as a one-day transportation allowance and exemption from regular exam fees안전놀이터. Internally, the KITA plans to take strict measures, including reprimanding those in charge of management, and to review and improve the entire process of the National Technical Qualification Examination to prevent similar cases from recurring. However, if some victims file lawsuits for damages, the case may not be easily concluded.

“As a public institution that is supposed to ensure the fairness and reliability of the national qualification examination, we feel a heavy responsibility that something unacceptable happened,” said Eh, “and we sincerely apologize for the damage caused to the test takers due to our negligence in managing the qualification examination.”