[/floatr]IHT: High demand causes 'Toefl crisis' in South Korea
Thailand has its attractions for foreign visitors: its famed temples, seaside resorts, tom yum soup. But what drew Oh Sun Yee to Bangkok recently for a three-day stay was something considerably less recreational. Like an increasing number of South Koreans, she had gone abroad to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or Toefl. "It would have been easier for a camel to pass through a eye of a needle than to sit for the Toefl in Korea," said Oh, 31, who spent two days cramming for the test in her Bangkok hotel room, took it on the third day, and then caught the six-hour redeye back to Seoul. Forget the North Korean nuclear crisis. What has many South Koreans in an uproar these days is the "Toefl crisis." With demand for the test far outstripping available slots, and scalpers demanding exorbitant prices, desperate South Koreans have been hunting for possible test sites from Japan to Southeast Asia, even Australia. Travel agencies have begun offering "Toefl tours" that include test preparation courses, a guaranteed test slot and sometimes even a bit of tourism on the side. One test preparation school estimates that about 500 Koreans a month travel to other countries to take the test...more...
