Cha Sa-soon lives alone in the mountain-ringed village of Sinchon in Wanju county, some 180 km south of Seoul.
This diminutive woman, now known nationwide as “Grandma Cha Sa-soon”, failed her driver’s test hundreds of times but never gave up. Finally, she got her licence — on her 960th try, New York Times reported on Friday.
For three years starting in April 2005, she took the test once a day five days a week. After that, her pace slowed, to about twice a week. But she never quit.
Cheerful loser
Hers is a fame based not only on sheer doggedness, a quality held in high esteem by Koreans, but also on the universal human sympathy for a monumental — and in her case, cheerful — loser.
“When she finally got her licence, we all went out in cheers and hugged her, giving her flowers,” said Park Su-yeon, an instructor at Jeonbuk Driving School, which Cha once attended.
“It felt like a huge burden falling off our back. We didn’t have the guts to tell her to quit because she kept showing up,” said Park.
After she got her licence in May, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, South Korea’s leading carmaker, started an online campaign asking people to post messages of congratulations. Thousands poured in. In early August, Hyundai presented Cha with a $16,800 car.
Cha said she had always envied people who could drive, but it was not until she was in her 60s that she got around to trying for a licence. “I was too busy raising my four children.”