Education minister vows to protect students hurt by university application system outage

Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said the ministry will form a task force — led by the director general for higher education and lifelong learning and including major private-sector companies — to find ways to ensure students suffer no disadvantage from the system outage that disrupted applications for the 2027 academic year's early university admissions round.

Choi made the remarks Monday during a National Assembly interpellation session on education, society and culture, responding to a question from People Power Party lawmaker Seo Beom-su. "Because there is a reporting and relief-application period, we will know the exact number of eligible students once that period ends," Choi said.

Asked who had ordered the extension of the application deadline, Choi said, "I gave the final order after working-level discussions with the chairman of the Korean Council for University Education."

Choi estimated that about 1,200 students had been unable to complete their early admissions applications, but added that the actual number requiring relief would likely be far smaller once the investigation concluded. "We will do our utmost to ensure students are not harmed, and if there is responsibility to be taken afterward, the minister will of course take it," he said.

The Ministry of Education said Sunday that of approximately 2.61 million early admissions applications submitted, up to about 1,200 students were estimated to have been unable to complete their applications due to the system failure.