"We will cut the vicious cycle of killer questions in exams, which leads to excessive competition among students and parents in private education," education minister Lee Ju-ho told a briefing. The ministry also vowed to crack down on private education "cartels" by ramping up efforts to monitor what it termed false and exaggerated advertising by private schools targeting exam preparations. Local media have reported on alleged connections between the private education industry and government education officials in drawing up college entrance exams that require private tutoring to master. Nearly eight in 10 students use in private education products such as cram schools, known as "hagwons", according to the report. Shin So-young, an activist at civic group The World Without Worry About Private Education, said the planned changes may not be enough to contain the competition.

---

Persons: Yoon Suk, Lee Ju, Yoon, Shin, Woongjin Thinkbig, 1,302.0300, Soo, hyang Choi, Hyunsu Yim, Jack Kim, Ed Davies, Gerry Doyle Organizations: South Korea, Education, Thomson Locations: South, SEOUL, South Korea's, South Korea, KS, MegaStudyEdu