South Korea has taken top honors in a global test of students' digital reading comprehension conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The Education Ministry announced the result of the OECD's first Digital Reading Assessment 2009 conducted as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment.

Some 38-thousand students from 19 countries took part in the assessment and South Korea's average score of 568 points was 69 points higher than the OECD average.

New Zealand and Australia tied for second at 537 points each. Japan came in at fourth with 519 points.

The question and answer test was taken by students on computers. It measured their abilities to gather and apply information related to the humanities, social sciences and natural science. It also measured their thinking power and creativity.

South Korean students also ranked first in the OECD's Print Reading Assessment. The result of the evaluation was released in December of last year.