'First-term' Oh Young-hwan, a Veteran with 10 Years of Field Experience
"Dreaming of the Day to Return to the Field"
Retired in December 2019... Needs to Take the Civil Service Exam
Oh Young-hwan, a first-term member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Uijeongbu Gap in Gyeonggi Province, announced that he will not run in the 22nd general election, stating that he will "return to being a firefighter." Oh, a veteran firefighter who worked on the front lines for 10 years, retired from firefighting before entering politics. The only way for Oh to become a firefighter again is to take the firefighter civil service exam.
At a press conference at the National Assembly on the 10th, Oh said, "Now, I want to return to my mission of dedicating myself to the people, to the place where I was and where I should be?the side of the people as a firefighter."
Oh is the first member of the National Assembly with a firefighting background. He began as a 119 rescue worker at Gwangjin Fire Station in 2010, served in the 119 Special Rescue Unit's mountain rescue team in 2012, and worked at the Central 119 Rescue Headquarters until December 2019.
He said, "When I was offered to enter politics, I said that I would definitely return to the firefighting field after four years. Not even for a moment has my intention to return changed. Rather, it was a challenging time that I overcame with the strength of dreaming about the day I would return to the field."
Oh Young-hwan, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, held a press conference at the National Assembly on the morning of the 10th to announce his decision not to run in the 22nd general election. Photo by Yonhap News
Oh cited his own shortcomings as the reason for his decision not to run. He said, "After the deaths of three firefighters and their funerals last year, I was despairing over the reality that we were one step behind despite our efforts. Last month, as I buried another firefighter’s remains at the National Cemetery, I accepted the limit that I could no longer endure." He added, "I acknowledge my shortcomings and have found the courage to step down. I also relinquish the arrogance that I must continue to play a role in politics to reduce tragedies caused by disasters."
However, Oh had already retired from firefighting in December 2019. The only way for him to return as a firefighter is to take the firefighter civil service exam again.
The firefighter civil service exam process includes written tests, physical fitness tests, personality and aptitude tests, document screening (including medical examination), and interviews. The written exam subjects include Korean history, English, and Introduction to Fire Science as common subjects. Korean history can be substituted with a level 3 or higher Korean History Proficiency Test, and English can be substituted with official English scores such as TOEIC 550 or TEPS 241 or higher.
Former firefighter Oh Young-hwan, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Yonhap News Agency, Democratic Party
For job-specific subjects, the open competitive recruitment (public exam) includes Firefighting-related Laws and General Administrative Law. For experienced competitive recruitment, general positions (firefighter to fire sergeant) take Firefighting-related Laws, emergency medical positions take Introduction to Emergency Medical Treatment, chemical positions take Introduction to Chemistry, and information and communication positions take General Computer Science.
There are also age restrictions. For the public exam, candidates must be between 18 and 40 years old. For experienced recruitment, the age limit is 20 to 40 for firefighter, fire corporal, and fire sergeant ranks, and 23 to 40 for fire lieutenant and fire captain ranks.
After passing the written exam, the second test is the physical fitness test, which includes grip strength, back strength, sit-and-reach, standing long jump, sit-ups, and shuttle run. Candidates must score at least 30 points out of 60 total points across six events to pass. The medical examination assesses physique, vision, color perception, hearing, blood pressure, and motor skills. The final interview is conducted individually and includes presentation and personality interviews. However, for the fire sergeant rank, only document screening and interviews are required.
Meanwhile, this year’s firefighter civil service written exam showed an average competition ratio of 13.8 to 1. According to the National Fire Agency, 21,575 applicants applied for 1,560 firefighter positions in 2023. The average age of candidates for open and experienced recruitment exams was 27 and 28 years old, respectively, with the youngest being 17 and 18 years old and the oldest candidate being 43 years old.
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