By Park Hye Ri and Kim Hayeon

Korea has finished second in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), which attracts talented math students from around the world.

According to the tournament's organizers on July 15, the six-member national team earned six medals -- three golds and three silvers -- in the 63rd tournament that ran from July 6-16 in Oslo, Norway. With a combined score of 208 points, Korea was runner-up out of 104 countries.

Korea came in third last year and fourth in 2020.

This year, the competitors from July 11-12 had to answer six questions, or three per day. In the daily time allotment of 4 1/2 hours, they had to find the answers without calculators. The highest score for each question was seven and one team member could earn a maximum of 42 points.

For Korea, Choi Woo-jin scored a team-high 40 by answering five of the questions correctly and getting five points on the last one. 

China claimed the title as all six of its competitors gave correct answers to all of the questions to receive a perfect tally of 252. This was just the second time for a nation to receive the maximum score since the U.S. did so in 1994.

The U.S. finished third with 207, followed by Vietnam (196) in fourth and Romania (194) fifth. 

The IMO is open to those under age 20 and debuted in Romania in 1959. It is held in a different country every year and seeks to discover and foster promising math talent and encourage youth and mathematicians to exchange information and culture.

Korea has competed in the event every year since 1988 with a six-member team selected at the Korean Mathematical Olympiad. The country won the IMO in 2012 and 2017 and hosted the 41st edition in 2000 in Daejeon.

Chiba, Japan, will host next year's competition.

hrhr@korea.kr