Korean Women Spends 10 Million on Driving Tests

Cha Sa-Soon, an elderly South Korean woman, has inadvertently reaffirmed age-old jokes about female drivers by closing on a world record for most failed driver’s tests. The 68 year old pensioner from the Wanju county has failed the theory section 775 times.

Cha first tried out for the written exam in April 2005 and has faired miserably ever since.

Her scores always fell into the 30-50% range where the pass rate required a 60% score.

Since her first attempt, she has been showing up almost every weekday for the same exam for the past few years.

Applicants are charged 6,000 won for every attempt and the Driver’s License Agency in Cha’s district, where she has been setting this fail record, figures that the the sum total of all unsuccessful attempts probably add up to 4,000,000 won ($3,000).

They also state that additional expenses like transport costs probably raise this figure to 10,000,000 won ($6,800).


Ironically, hefty transport costs may have been the reason why Cha has not enrolled in a driving school to help her through her exams. As it happens, most of the driving schools were located in urban settings, far from Cha’s hometown.

Thus, she has opted to rely on guidebooks for the past few years.

However, Cha is undeterred by her failure and believes that practice makes perfect.

“I believe you can achieve your goal if you persistently pursue it,” she says. “So don’t give up your dream, like me. Be strong and do your best.”

Her ultimate dream is to purchase a truck so as to build a business based on a door-to-door sales endeavor. The current mode of transport for her goods is a handcart.

If and when Cha succeeds, she will then venture into the practical aspect of getting a license – driving an actual vehicle!