The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science & Creativity (KOSAC) announced that all six members of the Korean delegation won medals at the 66th International Mathematical Olympiad, securing third place overall. This year's International Mathematical Olympiad was held from 10th to 20th in Sunshine Coast, Australia.
In this competition, which had 630 students from 110 countries participating, the Korean delegation included gold medalists Park Kyung-jun (Seoul Science High School, 3rd year), Yoon Hye-won (Sookmyung Middle School, 2nd year), Lee Hyun-jun (Seoul Science High School, 2nd year), and Ham Woo-joo (Seoul Science High School, 3rd year). Silver medals were awarded to Jang Hyun-jun (Seoul Science High School, 2nd year) and Jo Hyung-jun (Seoul Science High School, 2nd year). With a total score of 203 points, Korea placed third behind China (231) and the United States (216). Japan and Poland, with scores of 196, shared fourth place.
The 66th International Mathematical Olympiad featured a total of six problems across the fields of algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and number theory, and was held over two days with 4 hours and 30 minutes of competition each day. This year, particularly, the final problem, number 6, was set to be quite difficult, with only six participants solving it perfectly.
Yoo Ho-seok, Director General of the Korean Mathematical Olympiad Committee from Sejong University, noted that "As many countries increase their interest in mathematics and expand support for mathematics education, competition in the International Mathematical Olympiad is becoming increasingly fierce," and that "our Korean delegation demonstrated outstanding skills in this competition, achieving excellent results."
Korea also secured third place overall in the previous year's 64th International Mathematical Olympiad, winning two gold medals and four silver medals.