Broadcaster Seo Kyung-seok announced that he is the first celebrity to receive a perfect score on the Korean History Certification Examination.
Seo Kyung-seok appeared on KBS' "Morning Yard" on 1st and revealed that he scored 100 points on the 73rd Korean History Certification Examination held in February.
He said, "(This score is) a score bestowed by heaven," and added, "It depended on how my condition was that day and how much of the content I liked came out. All the energy came to me that day."
He continued, "Even history expert Choi Tae-sung would find it hard to get a perfect score if he took the exam properly," jokingly adding, "I'm speaking casually because we're friends."
Regarding the reason for taking the exam, he stated, "I have liked history since I was young." Seo Kyung-seok noted, "It's not because of Teacher Choi Tae-sung that I took it," explaining, "I got to know him through a program and became close by traveling together for 9 days and 10 nights. Since he is a history expert whom I admire, I wanted to get closer to him. I also asked him things I didn't know to get closer."
Seo Kyung-seok revealed that he took the exam a total of four times. He said, "If you score over 80 points, you get Level 1, but at first, I scored 81 points on the mock grading," and explained, "I mistakenly wrote the number on the OMR card, so my actual score was 79 points."
He added, "In the second exam, I scored 94 points, and after I uploaded my exam review on my personal (YouTube) channel, exam takers encouraged me to try for a higher score, so I took it again and got 99 points," adding, "I was going to stop, but I was told to take it one last time, so I did. A score of 100 has to be sent down from heaven."
After entering the Korea Military Academy as the top student, Seo Kyung-seok dropped out due to a mismatch in aptitude and enrolled in the Department of French Language and Literature at Seoul National University. He gained attention by passing the real estate agent exam while participating in broadcasting activities. Seo Kyung-seok also holds a Level 2 Korean language teacher certification.