SKorea holds breath for critical college entry test

SEOUL, Nov 16 (Reuters) South Korean businesses started late and parents held their breath today as about 600,000 students sat for a college entrance exam that is likely to be the most important test of their lives.

Even the stock market in Asia's third-largest economy delayed trading for the state-sponsored College Scholastic Aptitude Test, which will largely determine where young South Koreans go to university, what kind of job they get and even who they marry.

Many students have been preparing their entire lives for the test, sacrificing normal home life for sessions at cram schools that end with the approach of midnight.

''I've been praying hard for the last three days,'' said 49-year-old mother Yoon Kyung-sook. ''I have asked that my child's score will be satisfactory, and if not, then at least that my child can be a good guesser.'' To prepare their children for the test, parents often shell out tens of thousands of dollars for the best tutors and private schools. Some even take tips from consultants and pay nutritionists to design a diet that will benefit studying.

FLOCKING AWAY A growing number of fathers are choosing to split their families to by-pass an education system many believe fails to prepare their children for today's highly competitive job market.

These men, known as ''Kirogi appa'' or ''Wild Geese Fathers'', send their children abroad with their mothers for an education.

Once home, those students are often rewarded with high-paying jobs and considered the most eligible spouses.

''I left South Korea because my family thought I could get a better education in the United States,'' said a woman who asked to be identified by her family name Kwon.

Kwon's parents pulled her out of high school when she was a senior and nearing what is typically the most arduous year in the life of a South Korean student.

''My mother used to be on a plane all the time. She would take care of me and then fly back to Korea for my dad,'' said Kwon, who went to university in the United States and is now in graduate school there.

According to the Education Ministry, 8,000 elementary, junior and senior high school students left for education overseas in 2001 without a parent being sent to a foreign posting.

That number rose to 20,400 in 2005 and the destinations of choice were the United States, Canada, New Zealand and international schools in Southeast Asian countries, it said.

The ministry survey said the main reasons families chose to separate were the high cost of education at home and the view that the South Korean education system is broken beyond repair.

Parents hope their children will learn English and live a more balanced life abroad instead of staying in South Korea and spending each day memorising data for the college entrance exam.

But things do not always go according to plan. According to the education ministry, most families who choose to split up for their children's education reunite after two years.

''There are many students who fail to adapt. These students are heading overseas without enough preparation,'' the ministry said in a recent report.

REUTERS AKJ RAI1933