Civil service exams held nationwide despite ongoing pandemic

All News 18:53 July 11, 2020

SEOUL, July 11 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of thousands of job seekers braved the new coronavirus pandemic to take a national examination for recruitment of government workers Saturday.

The examination for the 2020 recruitment of entry-level civil servants brought together 130,593 job seekers at 426 test sites in 17 cities across the country.

The examination was originally set for March 28, but was delayed for more than three months amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Possibly in fear of virus infections, only 70.5 percent of the total 185,203 job seekers who applied showed up to take the test, a steep fall from last year's 79 percent, according to officials.

A exam taker undergoes a body temperature check at a school in the southern city of Gwangju where a national examination for recruitment of entry-level civil servants was held on July 11, 2020. (Yonhap)

Special anti-infection measures were employed in the nationwide examination as exam organizers strove to fend off any possibility of virus infection while the test was in session. They included infection prevention essentials, such as protective masks and hand sanitizer, as well as desk shields and plastic gloves.

Test takers had their body temperatures checked before the exam while one-meter of space was kept between each desk in the examination rooms.

This year, the maximum number of exam takers for each room was 20, far fewer than 30 in the past as part of the prevention efforts.

The exam aims to recruit a total of 4,985 civil servants, meaning only one out of every 37 exam takers is hired.