[Edaily Reporter KIM EUNG-YEOL ] Amid the Ministry of Education’s decision to grant relief in a total of 414 cases related to the “early admissions system crash” during the 2027 academic year, Education Minister Choi Gyo-jin stated in an interview with Edaily, “I believe the government should even consider a plan to directly manage the application submission system.”

The Ministry of Education announced on the 17th that a total of 1,588 applications for relief were received in connection with the so-called “early admissions system crash,” and that 414 cases were ultimately approved for relief. Of these, 354 cases had their relief procedures approved and the application process completed.

When asked, “Is the government considering a plan to directly manage the application submission system?” Minister Choi replied, “I believe we should consider it.” He emphasized, “Since the application processing contractor was at fault in this incident, we need to consider whether the government should manage the system directly or, even if we outsource it, strengthen the government’s oversight responsibilities,” adding, “After experiencing this incident, I feel we must enhance the government’s accountability.”

Minister Choi plans to identify the cause of the recent system outage during the early admission period and conduct a comprehensive review of the entire early admission application system through a special investigation into UwayApply, which will run until the 23rd.

Regarding the “Creating 10 Seoul National Universities” policy, Minister Choi stated, “The key question is how higher education will support the government’s national land transformation project.” He added, “We will foster the growth of nine regional national universities in line with each region’s characteristics and provide support so that students can study in their own regions without moving to Seoul, and find employment and settle in those regions after graduation.”

Regarding plans to introduce essay and discussion-based assessments in the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), he said, “I believe there is a growing public consensus that, as we aim to become one of the top three nations in artificial intelligence (AI), it is questionable whether maintaining multiple-choice college entrance exams is the right approach.” However, he added, “To introduce essay and discussion-based assessments, we need to ensure fairness in grading, secure sufficient grading personnel, address the workload burden on teachers, and verify the accuracy of AI-based grading.”