South Korea sweeps medals at 38th International Olympiad in Informatics

South Korea's young science talents proved their exceptional abilities on the world stage.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity announced Wednesday that all four members of South Korea's delegation won medals at the 38th International Olympiad in Informatics.

Competing against 375 students from 92 countries, the South Korean team claimed gold medals for Jeong Min-chan (third year, Korea Science Academy) and Yang Seung-min (third year, Seondeok High School), a silver medal for Byeon Jae-woo (third year, Gyeonggi Science High School) and a bronze medal for Son Jae-won (second year, Seoul Science High School).

The International Olympiad in Informatics ran over two days, with contestants solving three computer programming problems over five hours each day, for a total possible score of 600 points — 100 points per problem. Problems are selected through an open submission process among participating countries; this year's six problems included two submitted by South Korea — Tiling Game and Segmentation — along with problems from Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia.

The six problems — Bead Machine, Monument, Tiling Game, Segmentation, Magic City and Classroom Game — spanned diverse fields including tree structures, optimal matching and complexity theory. The problem selection and competition results highlighted the depth of South Korea's informatics education and the quality of its coaching staff and team curriculum.

Kim Seong-yeol, head of the Korean Informatics Olympiad Committee and leader of the delegation, said he was "very pleased that all members of the South Korean delegation won awards and finished the competition with outstanding results." He added that he was "proud of the passion and skill the student representatives demonstrated on the world stage" and expressed high hopes for their future achievements.

Meanwhile, South Korea's national team is set to compete this year in the International Earth Science Olympiad, the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics and the International Junior Science Olympiad.