By Yun Suh-young

Stellar performances by Korean students at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) for the first time led to all receiving gold medals, the education ministry said Monday.

At the 53rd IMO held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, which began July 4, the six Korean participants took the lead, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity said.

This is the first time the country topped the list at the IMO since 1988 when the 29th Olympiad was held in Sydney, Australia.

This year’s competition was known to have the highest cut to win the gold medal. Representing 100 countries, 548 students participated in the competition.

With a total of 209 points followed by China with 195, United States with 194, Russia with 177 the Korean math whizzes stole the spotlight.

The gold medal winners are Kim Dong-ryul, 15, Kim Dong-hyo, 17, Moon Han-wool, 16, Park Sung-jin, 16, Park Tae-hwan, 17, and Chang Jae-won, 16. They are all students at Seoul Science High School except for Moon who attends Sejong Science High School.

Three students were placed in the top 10 on the individual participant list. Kim Dong-ryul was second with 40 points out of 42 and Chang and Moon were fourth and ninth respectively.

The IMO is an annual international math competition which takes place in different locations. The purpose of the competition is to discover and foster math geniuses and promote cultural and informational exchanges between students from all over the world. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959.

The competition runs during the summer vacation period for about 10 days and only those under 20 without a college education are eligible to participate.

The 54th IMO will be held in Colombia in July next year.