Ruling Party and Government Agree to Eliminate 'Suneung Killer Questions'... "Maintain Autonomous Private High Schools, Foreign Language High Schools, and International High Schools"

Strict Response to Illegal Activities in Some Hagwons
Strengthening Support Using EBS

On the 19th, the ruling party and the government decided to exclude so-called 'killer questions' aimed at increasing the discriminative power of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). Along with this, they agreed to maintain autonomous private high schools, foreign language high schools, and international high schools, which had been slated for abolition under the Moon Jae-in administration, to provide customized education.

Lee Tae-gyu, a member of the ruling People Power Party and the party's education committee spokesperson, told reporters after the 'Party-Government Council on Enhancing School Education Competitiveness and Reducing Private Education' held at the National Assembly that day, "Killer questions are an easy way to increase the test's discriminative power but are a fundamental cause driving students to private education." He added, "Going forward, to ensure a fair CSAT evaluation, questions covering content not addressed in the public education curriculum will be excluded, question-setting techniques will be refined to secure appropriate difficulty levels, and the system will be reviewed to encourage diligent efforts by question setters, providing all possible support."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho is speaking at the party-government meeting on enhancing school education competitiveness and reducing private education held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 19th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Killer questions are designed to differentiate top-tier examinees but tend to be set outside the public education curriculum. As such, they are considered a major culprit pushing students toward private education.

Lee explained, "We decided to actively respond to the private education problem neglected by the previous government, especially the current situation where students, parents, and teachers all suffer while only private academies benefit. We viewed setting questions not covered in public education as no different from pushing students into private education."

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, who attended the party-government council that day, emphasized, "One of the biggest problems in education was setting CSAT questions on content not covered in the public education curriculum. We must solve this problem that has persisted for decades."

The ruling party and government plan to strictly respond to illegal activities by some large private academies to prevent parents from feeling anxious due to false or exaggerated advertisements. They also intend to strengthen support using EBS to absorb private education demand and expand support for autonomous after-school education enrollment rights to alleviate educational disparities.

Additionally, the ruling party and government reached a consensus to maintain autonomous private high schools, foreign language high schools, and international high schools, which had been decided to be abolished under the Moon Jae-in administration. This is based on the judgment that customized education suited to students' talents and aptitudes is necessary. The Moon Jae-in administration had decided to abolish autonomous private and foreign language high schools and convert them into general high schools starting from the 2025 academic year.

The ruling party and government also moved to defuse the 'CSAT difficulty controversy' that began with President Yoon Suk-yeol's remarks that day.

Deputy Prime Minister Lee officially apologized, saying that the Ministry of Education failed to properly implement President Yoon Suk-yeol's directive to set CSAT questions within the public education curriculum. He stated, "The President had pointed out issues such as 'killer questions' early on, but the Ministry of Education responded habitually and failed to present fundamental solutions. As the head of the Ministry of Education, I take responsibility and sincerely apologize to the public."

Lee said, "Despite longstanding criticism that setting questions not covered in the public education curriculum is tantamount to pushing students into private education, the Ministry of Education failed to resolve this and neglected the issue. We must reflect on this." He continued, "President Yoon has repeatedly pointed out the private education problem neglected by the previous government, especially the current situation where students, parents, and teachers all suffer while private academies thrive. I apologize to the public as the head of the Ministry of Education for not promptly presenting countermeasures."

Regarding criticism that a 'dismissal theory' arose during President Yoon's reprimand of him, Lee refrained from commenting, saying, "That is the prerogative of the appointing authority." However, he pledged, "I will do my best to solve the private education problem through this opportunity," and "Starting with the minister, we will respond more actively to this issue." When asked if the dismissal of the director in charge of university admissions was a 'scapegoating' move, he replied, "No, it was not," adding, "It was meant to show the Ministry of Education's stronger will to actively resolve this issue."

Lee said, "I emphasized to the Ministry of Education staff that this issue must be definitively resolved under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, and the Ministry itself must thoroughly reflect on the habitual and inadequate responses so far." He added, "When resolving this issue in the future, we will minimize parents' anxiety," emphasizing, "Rather than rushing, we will listen sufficiently to experts' opinions and prepare reasonable measures, implementing them gradually and step-by-step, but surely."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.