Korean and Chinese aviation authorities conduct ICAO tests to laughable standards. We have both local and some expat pilots with atrocious command of English pass with level 6 simply because they study by rote all the tests. Then we have people with excellent command of English coming away with a mere 4 or 5 simply because of their accent or some hesitation during the test ( they have not mugged up on the questions/answers, sure they have some hesitation at some strange questions ). So we have level 6 pilot missing almost all ATC clearances ( ATCers have to repeat several times ) and miscopying/misunderstanding instructions. Competent pilots with good command of English but only level 4/5 by those tests fly with nary a problem with ATC in Europe, the US or even down under. The authorities need to do better than that.